LOVE, that’s what I am learning to do, love the world, my teammates, myself and God.
We all desire love, no matter what kind of love we desire, it’s there in all of us.
Love is a choice.
I don’t believe that I can love on my own at least not the type of deep gut filling love.
Sure we all begin loving our parents, families, friends, but how deep does the love really go?
Can we really love without God?
I am learning daily how to love people with God’s heart. Honestly though, there are many days when I really suck at loving everyone, myself, even God. But then there are those days when I either pray for God to allow me to love or he just chooses to allow me eyes into his heart and I am able to see past all of the knit picky human qualities that bug me about people.
Really my only job in life is to love. I could preach the Gospel with words everyday of my life but if that’s all that I did was talk it would be useless. That makes me think of people who stand in public places with their Bibles yelling and screaming about the “gospel” and usually how we need to repent and turn to Jesus. Many times I don’t sense the love coming from those people. Passion and excitement yes but love is usually hidden under the layers or is non-existent.
I find it so much easier to love, mostly superficially, people who are most like me. I get caught up in trying to love those that I forget who God really wants me to reach out and love. As I learn more and more about God’s heart, it’s not just for white English speaking people. God through the death of Jesus Christ reconciled ALL OF THE WORLD to himself, terrorists, people with alternate lifestyles, the poor and homeless, and even church going people.
I am enjoying learning how to love in other countries, but I am most burdened for the United States and how numb we have become to the love of Christ. I do believe there are many beautiful churches loving each other all over the US. But we are not called to just be loving our church body and our coworkers. We are called to love homosexuals, politicians, people of different races and nationalities (even if they kill Americans), poor people, RICH people, everyone. We must put ourselves in situations to love people.
Please consider how you are loving people. How do you love your family? Are you taking the chance to love non-Christians? If not please ask the Lord to give you opportunities to love His people. We’ve got to stop thinking that just loving the people inside our churches and the occasional new people is enough. Get out of your white suburbia box, we must love the least of these! I’m not talking about everyone joining the World Race or going into missions. The least of these and the rich are among us. We must be living missional lives, with the mindset that God wants to use us daily, even in our homes, to advance his kingdom.
I think I often get so caught up in my humanness that I forget the bigger picture that God has created for me. He didn’t leave us here on this earth to whine about how depressing the news is and how kids these days are smoking pot before they get to junior high. He’s left us here to love, and through that love to actually advance the kingdom. I have to tell you I have never prayed the prayer with someone to accept Christ, which I know of. But what I do know is that I have had the opportunity to love and I have not. I have had the opportunity to share the Gospel through love and I have ducked my head and walked on by.
I’m tired of thinking that this is how the American church will always be, numb and homogeneous. I’m tired of thinking that I can’t really do anything to change this world, that I am just one person. Jesus was just one person. Paul, a terrorist and Christ hater turned Christ followe,r was just one person. I am continually re-recognizing the power and authority of Luke 9 that was bestowed upon the Disciples and that is upon me as a disciple of Christ. I am realizing through the baptism of the Holy Spirit that I am not called to worry about how I will share Christ with others, but that the Spirit will lead me in actions and in words. The hard thing is that I have to not be scared to listen to the gentle whisper of the Lord. When he tells me to jump, I JUMP! When he tells me to sing, I SING!!! When he tells me to dance, I DANCE! When he tells me to love despite my inability, I LOVE WITH THE HEART OF GOD AS MY HEART! I have made the choice to LOVE today and I must make it again tomorrow! I am making the choice to listen to the voice of God, despite how alternative, scary or dangerous it may be.
God please teach us to love! Please let us see your children through your heart’s eye. Change us O God, we are tired of an unloving world, but we know that it won’t change unless we, the likeness of Christ do something. Change us O GOD, WE BEG YOU!!!
I recently finished reading a life-changing book called The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. I urge you to go get it today, it will challenge you as a disciple of Christ.
