Calvary's love

Some more reminders that were running through my head today from Amy Carmichael's book, If.


These poke unrelentingly at our internal persona and how it comes flooding out toward others.

If a sudden jar can cause me to speak
an impatient, unloving word,
then I know nothing of Calvary love
(for a cup brimful of sweet water
cannot spill even one drop of bitter water,
however suddenly jolted).

What really fills me? If it is His love, that is all that others will see no matter how much they may rattle me. Oh, how I seek to be filled, to overflowing with Him, with no room for a drop of anything else!

If I feel bitterly towards those who condemn me,
as it seems to me, unjustly,
forgetting that if they knew me as I know myself
they would condemn me much more,
then I know nothing of Calvary love.

Reminds me of a scene in Facing the Giants. The coach is confronting a rebellious teen and points out that he unfairly judges his dad based on the father's actions, but when evaluating his own actions he weighs his motives in the balance as well. How often do I do that? Excuse my own sin because . . . But, for others, there is no mercy. When, truly I should be condemned far more harshly than even my peers might judge me, if they knew the truth of my human frailty.


I love Him because He first loved me, even while dead in my sins, He loved me with an unsearchable love. I want to tap into that love each and every day.