I think about these things everyday.
About love. About what it truly is… and what it could actually look like. I think about what it means to be a Christian – what it means to follow Jesus. About how Christianity – though often misrepresented by well-meaning Christians (like myself) – is synonymous with love… a kind of love that transcends human potential.
A supernatural kind of love. A love… that few of us have ever come into personal contact with perhaps for the exception of this: in its deepest possible expression, Jesus laid down His life for every single person in the world (from Hollywood porn stars to natives of remote areas of India). The world's greatest lover walked freely into a brutal death (all the while praying for the forgiveness of His enemies)… so He could transform (every single one of) us from sinners into lovers.
Because…. to follow Jesus is to love like Jesus – a simple yet marvelous truth so often lost on those who claim the crown of “Christianity”. So often lost on me.
To say I fall short on imitating Christ-like love is… sadly… an understatement. Loving people – truly loving others – is really hard to do – even when you honestly want to. It’s even harder when you don’t want to. And there are many, many moments when I feel I have no love to give anyone. Or when I just don’t feel like loving. Or when I want to be the one receiving love instead of giving it. Or when, frankly, I’d rather high five the person in the face (true story).
And there’s no good excuse for any of this… but the truth is, I get caught up in my own selfish desires and needs. I get caught up in my silly wayward mind and deceitful heart. I get caught up in the business of life… thinking that I have too much to do. Yet the only thing Jesus really asks me to do is to step forward in His love and grace. To pour it out onto others. To lavish it on the lost and broken. For nothing is more important than love (Galatians 5:6). All He truly wants is for us to have a willing heart – not a perfect heart… but one freely willing to (try to) love.
But we overcomplicate life… and faith, debating religion. Living out misguided theology. We overlook the simple yet perfect nature of the Gospel. We twist Scripture into “practical guidance” for self-serving endeavors. And in doing so, the very thing that’s meant to embody Christianity gets distorted. Loving replaced by loathing, and that poor, innocent Jesus dude gets a bad rap all because we're sleazy ambassadors. Perhaps this is why Christianity turns so many people off – because those who should be best at love are perhaps the worst at putting it into words and action. But, as I’ve hinted at, I’m just as much to blame for this as anyone else, and for that I’m truly sorry.
Thankfully… God is in the process of giving me an overhaul. Daily, He’s working to purify my heart — to set it on fire for igniting the lives of others through acts of love. Small acts of great love.
Jesus didn’t just come to save us from eternal damnation; He came to give life here and now. He came to grant us freedom – a kind of freedom known by just a few but available to all. He came to teach us how to live and love boldly… for the greatest common denominator of most every problem in the world is either the lack of or absence of love.
What the world needs – today – is less “Christianity” and more Christ. The world needs less pursuit of happiness and more pursuit of love… Christ-like love. Less people chasing the American Dream and more people chasing the Gospel. Less people fighting for a future, cushy retirement, more people fighting for the urgent needs of this struggling world. People… who will trade selfishness for selflessness. Judgment for embracement. Comfort for action. Pride for humility. Anger for grace. People who will trade a lukewarm Christianity… for intentionally, passionately following Christ — for intentionally, passionately loving people.
It’s a risky, bold, self-denying affair. It's active. Beautiful. Incredible. Life giving. Sacrificial. Because if it costs you nothing, it's not love. And as Bonheoffer declare
d, grace is free but it sure ain’t cheap. And the cost becomes the gift. Because we live by grace, we love by grace.Every day I pray for God to show me who to love and how to love them. And every single day I still fail at love. But no matter how much or how big or how often I fail… every day I get back up – by His grace – and try again.
Because I am loved… I love.
So, what if together we started a love revolution? What if we each decided to intentionally walk in great, supernatural acts of love – through the power of Christ? What if our love wasn’t limited to black or white or gay or straight or Christian or non-Christian? What if love became the basis of every action taken… and of every word spoken? What if we lived our lives as a vivid testimony of the one who gave it all for us?
Jesus is for lovers – it's time to represent!
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19
"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Galatians 5:6
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18
