Today, I was re-inspired by what Pastor Ken talked about in today’s message.
Love.
Simple right? You’d like to think so.
Just like my other post, it seems like people have forgotten what love is. Today it’s seen as that lovey dovey, walking on sunshine, butterflies in stomach kind of love. The kind of love you want to have and want to give. The kind that is easy. Well guess what, that’s not the kind of love God is talking about. It’s that unconditional, UNCOMFORTABLE kind of love that we need to give. Mmmhmm. Uncomfortable is definitely the appropriate word.
It’s funny, because I’m fighting with this teaching as we speak. There are many people I’ve become angry with, many people I don’t want to love. All I want to do is shun them from my life and forget they even exist. And yet, God is expecting me to love these people anyway. Why? To simply put it, it’s because God loved us unconditionally. We don’t even deserve God’s love. We really don’t. And yet He has given it to us anyway. What are we doing with this love that He’s given? We selectively choose who deserves love. We become selective in who we love. And as we do this, we don’t realize that we are doing more harm for the work of God than good. Instead of loving others and treating other as we would treat our own selves, we separate ourselves from them and essentially, we separate them from God from the decisions we make.
It’s so easy to love people who are lovable. It’s easy to say to your best friend, “hey you, I love you and care about you. BFFs for life!” (chest bump). It’s easy to say it to your parents whom have done so much for you, “Mommy, Daddy, even if I’m a pain in the butt to you both, I really love you” (group hug). But say it to the person who hurt you the most. Ummm oh heck no. Tell the most outcast person in society that you love them. EHhhh. Are you up for it? Can you do it? And if you say you can, how genuine are your feelings? It’s uncomfortable isn’t it? But that’s the kind of love that God wants us to spread, the kind of love that knows no limits, no class, no ethnicity… no boundaries.
As His servants we are called to do his work, to extend His love to non-believer and believers alike so that the love God continues to be manifested. We may not understand it all, but as humans, I don’t believe it’s our role to understand the mind of God. We’ll never match his wisdom and knowledge, and we will never match his love.
So what am I going to do about this? For the longest time, I’ve prayed for wisdom. Aside from reconciliation from my past, wisdom is the one thing I always pray about so that I can be prepared to handle life in the way God wants me to. And so my goal has always been to be obedient and to follow what God leads me to do, no matter how difficult. So even if it’s going to be hard, even if it’s going to be uncomfortable, I’m gonna step towards the direction of unconditional love, because I know that is what God calls all Christians to do to further His kingdom on earth.
God never said it was going to be easy. And it’s funny that as Christians, most of us think that life is going to have a happy ending and everything’s gonna be great. HA! As Pastor Ken said himself, we are wired for struggle. And in this struggle I anticipate having, I can only trust that it’s only going to make me a better person and bring me closer to God. So here’s me, taking it one day at a time.