A love like that

When I was eight years old, I gave my life to Jesus. I was at a Kids Crusade at our church and remember it well. Kids Crusades in the – ouch – 70s went something like this: there were puppets, ventriloquists, felt board stories, chalk drawings that, when you turned a black light on, revealed a hidden picture within the picture you were looking at, and – dare we not forget – filmstrips. If you are under 35, you may need more detail about several of these, but being a church kid in the 70s was pretty cool.

A filmstrip consisted of a projector, where you fed a real, live piece of film through and the scene was projected onto a screen. They were all still scenes with audio narration and when you heard a beep, you turned a knob to the next scene on the film. No, young people, I am not kidding.

My favorite things about filmstrips were as follows: Parables of Nature, this film series that took Jesus’ parables from the Bible and told them with animals as the main characters. And, secondly, getting to be the kid that turned the knob on the projector. Those were the days!

Anyway, getting back to when I gave my life to Jesus, I remember that day the filmstrip was about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross – how He’d died to save me, because He loved me so much and wanted a relationship with me. And, I remember thinking,

Wow! What a deal! I can’t believe anyone except my parents would love me that much! I’m definitely giving my life to Jesus!

And I did. And, for years to come, I had the sweetest relationship with God. It was that uncomplicated, literal child-like faith; unencumbered by fear, feelings of unworthiness, worrying about upsetting or angering God – unfortunately, all that would come later, in my youth years. But during these first few years, everything I did – pray, read the Bible, go to church – was out of love for God. I loved Him and knew that He loved me.

Now, I’ve come a long way since those years in my relationship with God. In all honesty, I did go through some rough years, feeling like I was always in trouble with God, God was angry with me, I must be a terrible sinner, due to some unfortunate teaching I sat under as a teenager, but God has brought me through that, like He always does, and the last few years have been so sweet with Him. He has been so faithful to gently draw me to Himself, to reveal who He really is, and point me in directions that have challenged me, changed me, and made me feel cherished.

One of these areas is in love – love for Him and love for others. And when I read Romans 12-13, love is what jumps out at me. Now, love is one of those things that has really been cheapened in our society today – even among Believers, I’m sad to say. I’ve had to ask myself some pretty difficult questions about what it truly means to love others and have been surprised and a bit perplexed at the answers I’ve come up with. Let’s just say they aren’t super popular in some circles.

So when I read Romans 12, Paul is talking about several topics that appear to be different, until I look at them through the lens of love. For instance:

Can I truly offer my body as a living sacrifice, without being in a love relationship with God?

Can I humbly serve, using my God-given gifts, without thinking too highly of myself? Can I honor my fellow Believers as they use their God-given gifts, without becoming jealous, if I don’t love them well?

Can I pray for my enemies, those who hate me and actually wish harm to come to me, without a supernatural love for them? Can I actually overcome evil with good and live at peace with everyone, without this crazy love working inside me?

And, oh my word! Don’t even get me started about Romans 13:1-7. Seriously, submit to the governing authority – no matter whether I voted for them or not?! Some days I’d rather eat dirt and die! But it’s right there, in black and white, written by none other than Paul the Apostle, himself.

The truth is, the Gospel is pretty simple; it’s the same Gospel that drew me to God at eight-years-old: God loved me so much that He sent His son to die a criminal’s death on a cross so that He and I could have a relationship. And all He requires of me is to love Him with my whole being and to love others as much as I love myself. I mean, it’s a pretty sweet gig…until we get to the part about loving others.

God has taken me on a roller coaster ride regarding loving others over the past few years. He’s shown me, over and over, in the life of Jesus, what it truly means to love others:

Love everyone

Love when you’re unsure

Love when it’s rejected and ridiculed

Love when you don’t understand

Love when you don’t want to

Love 'til it hurts.

Why? Because that’s the kind of love God gives us.

Oh, it’s easy to say I love others, but I’m so glad you can’t see my heart, sometimes! Romans 12:9-18 sort of hit me between the eyes, regarding this life of love we’re supposed to live. It says, and I quote:

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see that you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

Um, yikes! Even with God’s help, on a good day, that is a tall order, right? It is only, and I mean only, by the grace of God and guidance of the Holy Spirit that I can come anywhere close to loving like that. I mean, please! It’s even hard to love people that I really do love like that, consistently! And I fall miserably short a lot. In the words of Isaiah, “Woe is me!”

Then, in Romans 13:10b-12a, I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Paul winds things down with these words:

These – and other such commandments – are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law. This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here.

And my question is this:

Is love really that important?

And I’ll answer my own question with,

Yes. Love is that important.

The real, hard truth here is that how we as Believers love – even and especially the unbelievers – has a direct correlation to how they will perceive God. Will they see only a judgmental, angry, unloving, unapproachable God through us, or will they see the loving, forgiving, compassionate, personal God that He truly is? Is He a judge? Oh, sure. There will be a day for that for all of us, but you know what? That day is not today. Today, we have the chance to love in a way that those around us can not only see a true picture of our heavenly Father, but also be drawn to Him. And, listen, this kind of love is not for the faint of heart! Oh no! It’s tough, it takes determination and grit and can be exhausting, but – newsflash! It’s how we have been and are loved by our God every single day. In our own unworthiness, God loves us and every person needs an opportunity to be loved by God and us in that way.

Friends, if only we would love like that; the world would be turned upside down.