WHAT MOTIVATES YOU?

Luke 7:40-50

Luk 7:40 So Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” He replied, “Say it, Teacher.”
Luk 7:41 “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
Luk 7:42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Luk 7:43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled.” Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
Luk 7:44 Then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
Luk 7: 45 You gave me no kiss of greeting, but from the time I entered she has not stopped kissing my feet.
Luk 7: 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfumed oil.
Luk 7: 47 So, I am telling you, her sins, which were many, are forgiven, she loved greatly because of this; but the one who is forgiven little loves little.”
Luk 7: 48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Luk 7:49 But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”
Luk 7: 50 He said to the woman, “Your faith has rescued you; go in peace.”

the secret of Christian love

Christian love has always carried a kind of quiet, world‑altering power. It has crossed oceans, entered plague‑ridden cities, lifted the dying from the streets, founded hospitals, and reshaped entire cultures. And when you trace that power back to its source, you always find the same thing at the root: forgiveness. Not sentiment. Not moral resolve. Not political vision. Forgiveness.

Those who truly grasp the depth of God’s grace toward them—who feel the weight of their own sin lifted by the cross—become people who can lift burdens from others. They become generous in ways that make no earthly sense. They give time, resources, compassion, and mercy because they know what it is to receive all of that from God Himself. Their love is not manufactured; it is overflow. It is the natural fruit of forgiven hearts.

But remove forgiveness, and the whole structure collapses. Without the cross, without the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, there is no engine powerful enough to produce the kind of love that heals societies. Laws can restrain evil, but they cannot create love. Political movements can shift culture, but they cannot soften hearts. No government can legislate compassion into existence. Love does not begin on Capitol Hill. It begins on Calvary’s hill, where the Son of God absorbed the world’s sin and offered the world His mercy.

That is why Christian love has such staying power. It does not depend on who rules, who writes the laws, or what cultural winds are blowing. It flows from a deeper place—from people who know they have been forgiven much and therefore love much. The secret of Christian love is not human goodness. It is divine grace. It is the blood‑bought capacity to forgive, to release debts, to treat others not as they deserve but as God has treated us.

And when forgiven, people move into the world with that kind of love, things change. Not because they are strong, but because grace is.

LORD, thank You for the capacity to forgive—bought by the blood, sustained by Your Spirit, and poured out so that Your love can take root in us and through us.