Love

Other than Sunday School, I've never been in a Bible class. This semester I have had the opportunity to take New Testament with a wide variety of people, so there are some pretty interesting discussions and questions that people ask. We have been going through the gospel of Mark, and our professor was talking about "The Messianic Secret."
Every time Jesus did a miracle he would tell people not to tell others what he had done. He did this to redefine the Jews' idea of the Messiah--they expected to have a huge political leader who was powerful and needed to be served, but instead, here was Jesus who came to be the servant of all...even to suffering a death on a cross. And by being followers of Christ, we as Christians would encounter much suffering as well.
The guy sitting behind me always asks questions, so his hand popped up and he asked, "Why does there have to be suffering involved?" Good question, guy that sits behind me. Professor answered this question so well, and basically shared the love story of Jesus. Suffering is associated with love. You wouldn't go through any inconvenience, pain, and definitely wouldn't suffer, for someone who you didn't care about. But, because he loves us, he suffered. I felt overwhelmed by Jesus' love today.
It made me think about my own relationships. Do I sacrifice for the people I love, or is my attitude toward our relationship self-centered? Yep, the latter of the two. I guess since I don't know too many people in this new place yet I feel especially needy for the other relationships that I have with people that I'm already comfortable with. I'm ready to start giving back. To start sacrificing what little I can give for the sake of pointing back to His sacrifice. Jesus is so good.