Sacrificial love

When he discovered his wife had Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Robertson McQuilkin made a decision few men would have made. He resigned as president of Columbia International University to devote himself to her care.

When the illness began, Dr. McQuilkin initially tried to go to his office while a caregiver stayed with his wife. He reflects, “During those two years it became increasingly difficult to keep Muriel home. As soon as I left, she would take off after me. With me, she was content; without me, she was distressed. The walk to school is a mile long. She would make that trip as many as ten times a day. Sometimes at night, when I helped her undress, I found bloody feet. When I told our family doctor, he choked up. ‘Such love,’ he said simply.”

Dr. McQuilkin continues, “I wish I loved God like that – desperate to be near Him at all times. When Muriel’s speech began to fail, one of the last phrases she could say was, ‘I love you.’ As the affliction ran its course, Muriel could no longer respond to his words or touch. “I would love her,” he said, “but she couldn’t love me back, and that’s a painful thing.”

Much of our love is “tit for tat.” In other words, when you love me, then I respond in kind, but when you stop returning my love, the deal’s off. God’s love is unconditional – no strings attached.

Have you ever considered, though, what might happen should God choose to love us in the way we love each other? Robertson McQuilkin lived out the reality of sacrificial love – a decision to care that abides, regardless of the temperature of the heart that rises and falls with our feelings.