Moved by Love

“So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.” (Genesis 29:20) 

Jacob’s marriages and subsequent children would put Days of Our Lives to shame; however, the passage before us is different. We find a testament to the motivations of many of our actions, and a force behind those actions able to transcend any obstacle and bound over any hurdle. What is that motivation? That force? Love. Jacob weathered fourteen blistering years of labor for love. In so short an article, Jacob cannot be our primary point of reference. 

Do we not see in this passage a glimpse of the love of our Savior? He loved us from before the foundation of the world, and look where that love took Him! 14 years of labor? Oh, no! Need I remind you of that first glorious display of love, when He preached love to them on the edge of Eden? When His heart sang forth in promise, that He would one day come and crush the head of the serpent? What of all the ages of guiding His people – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and so on (Jude 5)? Who has enough ink to share of His humiliation? Born in a low estate, raised in poverty, rejected by His people, suffering in every way in a boundless measure, culminating on the cross of Calvary? Does it end there? Of course not! What of all the prayers and providential guidance of His people from His resurrection to His return (Heb. 7:25; Eph. 1:20-23)? And for what reason? “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me” (John 17:24). He desires, He loves us! What is fourteen years compared to this vast, immeasurable love? 

But, reader, I must turn my pen to you. What of your love for Christ? Do you have such a longing to see Him that these passing years seem but a few days? That you are willing to suffer for Him? Deny yourself for Him? Bear a cross for Him? How does the love of Christ motivate you?