Page 352 - Radical Love by Linda Robinson_FEB2025

RADICAL LOVE

went to a special shop where a very exclusive brand could be procured

for my habitual little coffee ritual in the mornings. It wasn’t that I drank
copious amounts—it was just something I thoroughly enjoyed, and

God asked me to hand it over.

I was horrified! I argued, justified, and deceived myself in order to

wriggle out of what I thought was an unfair request. I blamed a

legalistic and religious spirit for the feelings of condemnation I came
under when I continued to drink it—until finally, after many months, I

knew that I had no option. I had to go to the cross with it. I had to deny
myself if I wanted to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ—and I did.

I also want you to realise that I really wanted to please God. My desire

was to love Him as He deserved, but I couldn’t do it in my own
strength—I needed the grace of God. And because He is faithful, He

did it in me.

I learnt many great lessons through this experience. The main one was

that, even when I kept failing and then repenting, and then failing again,

slowly—step by step—I saw how the love for Jesus was displacing the
love for this paltry pleasure, until finally I succumbed completely.

Because I knew that remaining in Jesus’ love and knowing Him as my
own for the whole of eternity was actually a small sacrifice in

comparison.

The words He used to utter to my spirit—and which I still hear today—

are: “All of Me for all of you.”

327