If I have not loved, I have failed.
That’s what it comes to - love. That’s what Jesus is gonna ask you when you meet Him face to face, “Did you love me? Did I know you? Do you know me?” It won’t matter if I opened blinded eyes, healed cancer patients, given fortunes to those suffering from poverty, casted out Legion many times out of many people, or brought people back to life in the name of Jesus, if I have not loved. Jesus will say to me, “I never knew you… What you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for Me.”
That’s the beauty of it all. It’s so simple. God said, “love Me; Me and Me alone and the way you go about that is this: love my creation - people. Everything I’ve been trying to teach you, the whole love story I wrote for you rests on these two commands.” Place those around you above yourself. Live in a way that seeks to serve them, to be a beautiful testimony of God to them, to point them to Christ. It’s that simple. It’s so plain.
It’s the beauty of simplicity, that brings me down to my knees. Love God; Love people.
Still, somehow, my human mind manages to skewer my image of the Mission. It turns this simple, sacred commandment into something complicated, layered and ineffective. I’m a schemer. I like delicate plans with several agendas and many outcomes. Then I am brought back to…
Love God; love people. That’s that. Do.
Smile, wave, hug, give. Give of yourself. Pour out and into people and expect nothing in return. It’s so simple. Where did I go wrong? At what point did I let my pride get a hold of my being and convince me my way, my complicated, detrimental, voracious way, to be superior?
Love God; love people. That’s that. Do.
Father, you lead. I will follow and I will love. You are my victory. I am your love. We will not fail. We will love Your people.
Lone Shack. 1.0
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. (A lot of thinking, but not enough writing. Even now I feel so much relief as I type on this keyboard. It feels so refreshing writing out my fleeting thoughts.)
I’ve been thinking about how people are alone; people who are alone when they don’t have to be.
We are shown that the path of solitude is one of strength. The lone ranger off in the distance is the coolest ranger ever. You don’t need anyone, handle it alone. Yet, that path is lonely, and when on that path, one does not feel strong. It’s like this: the world is scary. We have learned to be shrewd and to not trust. We build ourselves fortresses, more like small houses of bricks. Walls are erected to protect us from pain, from disaster, from people. We build up layers and layers; many feet of walls stand between us and the the outside. We fill the shacks with heaters to keep us warm and pillows to keep us company. But we are alone. The house is impenetrable, yet instead that flips on us and works toward our disadvantage.
We build the walls to keep the heat in, to keep ourselves warm. But what happens when the heaters break, or when the temperature drops severely and we get sick and weak from sickness? We’ve isolated ourselves in these caves that we’ve been lead to believe are the safest places and then when the unpredictable, inevitable disasters come along, we find ourselves in situations when we are in deep need of help.
But we are too proud. We say, “I don’t want to burden people with my problems” or “I can’t trust any one” Far too proud. Far too alone.
Daily Battles.
You know that fight that you have everyday? The fight that really makes you feel like crap every time you finish. And your tendency is to lose most days. No matter whether you “win” or “lose” that fight, it still leaves you feeling broken, angry, bitter and defeated.
You’re at war with yourself. Yes, or no. Black or white. Darkness or light. Pride or humility. The sides are so different, so far apart, but at the same time, only a thin line separates the two. You could as easily say “yes” as you could say “no” to your sin. Yet, no is right, and yes is wrong. And usually the yes seems a bit more appealing during the moment. You could choose humility or you could choose to puff yourself up. It’s far easier to puff and more fun to puff yourself up, but humility is just thinking about other people instead of yourself. It’s black and white, right and wrong, left or right.
(This needs work.)
