Calvary Love

~If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, talk of

their weak points in contrast perhaps with what I

think of as my strong points; if I adopt a superior

attitude, forgetting "Who made thee to differ? And

what hast thou that thou has not received?" then I

know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I find myself taking lapses for granted, "Oh, that's

what they always do," "Oh, of course she talks like that;

he acts like that," then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another; if I can

in any way slight another in conversation, or even in thought,

then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I can write an unkind letter, speak an unkind word,

think an unkind thought without grief and shame, then

I know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I do not feel far more for the grieved Savior than for

my worried self when troublesome things occur, then I

know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I can rebuke without a pang, then I know nothing of

Calvary Love.

~If my attitude is one of fear, not faith, about one who has

disappointed me; if I say, "Just what I expected" if a fall occurs,

then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I lose affection, or least

the one concerned should say, "you do not understand," or

because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my

own good name before the other's highest good, then I know

nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I am content to heal a hurt slightly, saying "Peace, peace,"

where there is no peace; if I forget the poignant word

"Let love be without dissimulation" and blunt the edge of truth,

speaking not right things but smooth things, then I know

nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I hold on to choices of any kind, just because they are my

choices, then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I am soft to myself and slide comfortably into self-pity and

self-sympathy; if I do not by the grace of God practice fortitude,

then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I myself dominate myself, if my thoughts revolve around myself,

if I am so occupied with myself I rarely have "a heart at leisure from

itself," then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If, the moment I am conscious of the shadow of self crossing

my threshold, I do not shut the door, and keep that door shut,

then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I cannot in honest happiness take the second place (or the

twentieth); if I cannot take the first without making a fuss

about my unworthiness, then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I take offense easily, if I am content to continue in a cool

unfriendliness, though friendship be possible, then I know

nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I feel injured when another lays to my charge things that I

know not, forgetting that my sinless Savior trod this path to the

end, then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I am bitter toward 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.

~If souls can suffer alongside and I hardly know it because the

spirit of discernment is not in me, then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If the praise of others elates me and their blame depresses me;

if I cannot rest under misunderstanding without defending

myself; if I love to be loved more than to love, to be served

more than to serve, then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I crave hungrily to be used to show the way of liberty to a

soul in bondage, instead of caring only that it be delivered;

if I nurse my disappointment when I fail, instead of asking that

to another the word of release may be given,then I know nothing

of Calvary Love.

~If I do not forget about such a trifle as personal success, so that

it never crosses my mind, or if it does, is never given room there;

~If the cup of flattery tastes sweet to me, then I know nothing

of Calvary Love.

~If in the fellowship of service I seek to attach a friend to myself,

so that others are cause to feel unwanted; if my friendships

do not draw others deeper in, but are ungenerous

(to myself, for myself), then I know nothing

of Calvary Love.

~If I refuse to allow one who is dear to me to suffer for the sake

of Christ,

~If I do not see such suffering as the greatest honor that can

be offered to any follower of the Crucified, then I know

nothing of Calvary Love.

~If I slip into the place that can be filled by Christ alone,

making myself the first necessity to a soul instead of leading

it to fasten upon Him, then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

~If my interest in the work of others is cool; if I think of my

own special work; if the burdens of others are not my

burdens too, and their joys mine, then I know nothing

of Calvary Love.

~If I wonder why something trying is allowed, and press for

prayer that it may be removed, if I cannot be trusted with

any disappointment, and cannot go on in peace under

any mystery, then I now nothing of Calvary Love.

~If the ultimate, the hardest, cannot be asked hesitate to ask

it and turn to someone else, then I know nothing of

Calvary Love.

~If I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the

Cross,then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

"That which I know not, teach Thou me, O Lord, my God."

-Amy Carmichael