As I was pushing the stroller holding the toddler I nanny this morning, I was praying for strength and wisdom in an intense situation with a very close friend. The conversation went something like this:
Kara:
God, I don’t really like to be in people’s face about things. I know this is how I am supposed to be a good friend, but I struggle when I know the short term feelings toward me are going to be negative. Long term I know everything will be fine, but I am worried about the short term. I am axious about being pushed out by my friend. I know that even if worst case scenario she does not want to talk to me, you are all I need God. (This is the condensed version)
I love how revelation just seems to talk over all my noise. I am just binding and loosing things in the situation and praying for my friend. All of a sudden, I hear:
God:
BE LOVE. You have been praying and asking to be more like me, BE LOVE.
Revelation is also so cool because it comes with the understanding of how to do what God has said.
God:
Kara, you give love in certain situation and to certain people. The reality is that you also withold love from certain people and in certain situations.
I John 4:16a God is love.
There it was. God does not give love, He is love. If I want to be like Him, I have to BE LOVE. While I was letting this soak in, I got this image of LOVE being the kid that everyone picks on. In our culture, churches and families LOVE is abused, rejected, ignored, manipulated and suffers much at the hands of a cruel world.
Who wants to be that kid? Jesus. Jesus was that kid. He was the expression of God’s LOVE. He came here to BE LOVE. What did he recieve at the hands of this world? A life of suffering and rejection and death on a cross.
I had never been able to understand what Jesus meant when he said ” Turn the other cheek…”. Mostly because I was not okay with that kind of love. I didn’t understand that Jesus did so much more than what he is asking of me. He died on a cross so that I would be able to turn the other cheek. So I could BE LOVE.
Search your heart today and ask God to help you see where you need His love so you can BE LOVE. Let’s all try to be that kid, turn the other cheek and embrace the world the way Jesus did.
