Love

Posted on October 29th, 2004 by hanfaith.
Categories: Deep Thoughts, General.

OK, I have finally come out of my funk - somewhat. Thanks to all of you who have emailed, commented, and called with words of encouragment. As many of you knew, I’m sure, real solace only came when I slowed down, picked up my Bible, and cried out to my Lord.

I’ve been reading through the New Testament - and I’m nearing the end now. I just finished 3rd John today. By the way, we had a guest speaker from Africa a couple of months ago, and I loved how he said the books of the Bible with numbers in front of them - he would say “Two Corinthinans” and “Three John”. But back to my reading, I was really convicted by my need to love. Yes, doctrine is important, Yes, methodology is important. Yes, right teaching is important. Yes, right shepherding is important. But nothing excuses me from loving. Nothing gives me the right to say, “Yep, you crossed the line there, buddy. No more love for you.”

Love is a tricky thing sometimes. We make so many conditions on it. “Well, yeah, you should love but…” and then comes the list of excuses. I’m not talking about a cheesy, fake love. Neither am I speaking of a love that ignores wrongdoing. I’m speaking of a love that sees and takes in all and still says, “I love you as a brother/sister of Christ. I don’t agree with all that you believe in. I don’t think that you are right in this instance, and I will not agree with you simply to smooth things over, but I think we can agree to disagree.” There is a way to handle confrontation and disagreements with love. And nobody can fault you for having love. They can fault you for having unrighteous anger, a spirit of dispute, and a general nastiness, but not true love. (ok, that was a mistake to type that - now I’ve got “TRUUUUUE LOOOVE” (princess bride) running in my head)

My point: I need to learn to handle tough situations with fellow Christians with love. Why does it sometimes seem easier to love non-Christians, than to love our fellow believers? The church isn’t perfect. God uses other people to grow us up in the way He wants us to be - and all that rubbing together of different people can sure create some sore spots. It’s how we respond to those sore spots, I think, that shows what is truly in our hearts. Will we see the bruises and give up on our faith thinking it’s not worth it? May it never be. May the bumps and bruises, skinned knees and blistered hands bring us closer and deeper into our relationship with Jesus.

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