Maxie Dunnam, president of Asbury Theological Seminary in his book, This is Christianity, tells a remarkable story about Dr. Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon. A man had been injured in a fire while attempting to save his parents from a burning house.            

He wasn’t able to get to them, and they perished. However, in trying to save them, his own face was burned and disfigured. Like many people do in a similar situation, he interpreted his pain as God’s punishment. He closed himself up in a room and would not let anyone see him — not even his wife.

The wife went to Dr. Maltz for help. He told her not to worry because he could restore her husband’s face. The wife was not convinced her husband would let him help, for he had repeatedly refused any help — even from her.

“That is why I’ve come to see you,” she said. “I want you to disfigure my face so I can be like him! If I can share in his pain, then maybe he will let me back into his life.”

Dr. Maltz was shocked. He denied her request, but was so moved by the woman’s love that he went to speak with her husband. Knocking on the man’s bedroom door, he called loudly, “I’m Dr. Maxwell Maltz. I am a plastic surgeon, and I want you to know that I can restore your face.”

There was no response.

“Please come out,” he said. Again there was no answer.

Still speaking through the closed door, he told the man about his wife’s proposal. “She wants me to disfigure her face, to make her face like yours in the hope that you will let her back into your life. That’s how much she loves you.”

There was a brief moment of silence, and then, ever so slowly, the doorknob began to turn. Like a morning glory opening to the rays of the morning sun his heart was melted and opened wide in the presence of his wife’s sacrificial love.

The way this woman felt about her husband is the way God feels about you. In fact, if you were the only human being who had ever lived, God loves you so much that He would have still sent His Son into the world to save you. And He feels the same way about every human being, regardless of how undeserving he or she may be.

The apostle Paul explained to the church at Rome just how complete and unlimited God’s love is when he said, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8, NASV).

God’s love cannot be earned or purchased; it is freely given. It is given not because we deserve it, but because we need it. It is hard to fathom love that great, isn’t it? Our love for others is sometimes given with limitations and stipulations attached. We say things like, “We will love you if …” or “We will love you until …”

The woman in the above story loved her husband so much she was willing to become like him. God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die in our place.

In other words, He became like us so that we, by faith, can become like Him.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Parkerson is a native of Georgia, a graduate of Mercer University [B.A.], Southeastern Seminary [M. Div. and Th.M.], and Campbell University [D.D.]. He has served as pastor of one church in Georgia and five churches in North Carolina. Following retirement as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Sanford on Sept. 30, 1996, he has served nine North Carolina churches as interim pastor. His column, The Paper Pulpit, has appeared weekly in a few newspapers and other publications since 1958. He and his wife, Jessie, live in Wilmington near their daughter and family.)