missed opportunities...
Fireworks are screeching outside. Pop. Pop. Pop, pop, pop! I'm pretty certain it smells like battlefield out there, with all of that gun powder exploding into the night sky. But it's beautiful. Bright colors light up the sky, and I praise the Lord that He has been gracious enough to let America celebrate another year.
It's been a tough few weeks for America. I say a tough few weeks, but maybe it would be fair to say it's been a tough season for America. It's not that this country hasn't had her fair shares of ups and downs over the past 239 years, but I feel like there's been a lot of negative activity lately. A lot of tragedy recently. A lot of division. A whole lot of arguing, and a lot of disappointment.
I love to read, and I've been engrossed in reading opinion articles over the past few weeks. It's been a wild ride, my friend. A true adventure, and I'll admit that my heart and my brain feel overwhelmed at times. There's been a whole lot of finger pointing, a whole lot of hate spewed, and an intense amount of hypocrisy all around. It doesn't matter which side of the fence you're on, to be honest. We all feel it coming our way, and we all feel justified in dishing it out. And I've read article after article stating that Christians have really messed things up by their responses over the past few weeks and passed up the opportunity to show love. Well, while I could climb upon my soapbox and write a few hundred hours about this thought, I figured I'd keep it to one. Did we really miss an opportunity to love? Was this it? Was this our one chance to show the world the love of Christ? Because if it was, then that's a real shame for everyone.
I don't think love is a one time opportunity. No, in fact, I know it's not. And when we throw around the word love, well, what does that look like, exactly? If we all had the same definition of love, then it'd be really easy to tell whether or not it was being shown. But the truth is that love is a daily, an hourly, a minute by minute occurrence, and we always have the opportunity to show it. I'll be honest with you, I'm not always loving. There are moments, and sometimes days, where I do not feel like loving. Love is a choice, you know, a voluntary act, and sometimes I don't show it because I'm an imperfect person who doesn't always get it right. So does that make me an unloving person? Does that mean I'll never have the opportunity to show love again? Why no, no, it doesn't. Because love is never just a one time gesture. Love always has a second chance.
And so I don't think God's people missed the opportunity to show love to others. Sure, there may have been some unloving exchanges in the heat of the moment, but I don't believe that negates any possibility that Christians can no longer show Christ's love to those with differing opinions and lifestyles. Of course, if love means that we endorse all things and accept all things, then we are absolutely the most unloving group of people for sure. But if we follow the 1 Corinthians 13 definition of love, ( "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." ) then we come to find out that love is a constant work in progress.
But I think that we focus too much on love as if that's all we have to worry about, all we have to offer. It's not the missed opportunities of love that solely drive others away from Christ. Because there's more to following Jesus that simply loving. It's the greatest commandment, but it's not the only one. Jesus tells us that if we're going to be his true disciples, if we're going to be a light in the dark, the salt of the earth, then we have to take up our cross and follow him. We have to live a life that reflects him. We have to surrender and sacrifice, and if you ask me, this right here is where we have missed those opportunities. Those chances to really show the world that there is a different way.
When we began having sex outside of marriage, gluing our eyes to pornography, and accepting that it's just how things are these days, we missed the opportunity to show the world God's beautiful and holy design for intimacy. When we began being unfaithful in our marriages and allowing divorce to become an easy option, we missed the opportunity to reflect Christ's relationship with the church. When we started snowballing ourselves into debt, we missed the opportunity to show the world that God meets all of our needs and is truly our great provider. When we began to take the lives of our unborn children rather than accepting the consequences of our actions, we missed the opportunity to show the world that all life is valuable whether or not we planned it. When we stood at the water cooler at work and gossiped our lips off, we missed the opportunity to show God's kindness and compassion. When we yelled and got angry because things weren't going our way, we missed the opportunity to show God's grace and loyalty. When we held a grudge, we missed the opportunity to show God's mercy and forgiveness. When we whined and complained and threw a fit because we didn't feel that life was being fair, we missed the opportunity to show God's sovereignty. And when we chose not to share our testimony, to hide our wounds and paint ourselves as a picture of perfection to avoid any potential shame or judgment, we missed the opportunity to show God's transforming, life changing, redeeming power to a world that so desperately needs to see it.
It is love, but it's more than love. It's telling people the truth about who you were then and who you are now. Showing them how Christ has transformed and redeemed your life and living out loud like the new creation He created you to be. It's about being different, not perfect. About telling others, showing them your flaws, and then pointing them to Christ so that they, too, can drink from the well of Living Water. It's saying, "I mess up, too. I'm a sinner, but Jesus died for my sins and my life was changed when I accepted him as my Savior. It's not always easy, but it's abundant. It's complete. It's fulfilling."
Love others. Love the Lord. Live your life according to His word. That's what will draw people to Him. That's what will most reflect him, and that's what will bring him glory.
"Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God." - 1 John 5:1-5
It's been a tough few weeks for America. I say a tough few weeks, but maybe it would be fair to say it's been a tough season for America. It's not that this country hasn't had her fair shares of ups and downs over the past 239 years, but I feel like there's been a lot of negative activity lately. A lot of tragedy recently. A lot of division. A whole lot of arguing, and a lot of disappointment.
I love to read, and I've been engrossed in reading opinion articles over the past few weeks. It's been a wild ride, my friend. A true adventure, and I'll admit that my heart and my brain feel overwhelmed at times. There's been a whole lot of finger pointing, a whole lot of hate spewed, and an intense amount of hypocrisy all around. It doesn't matter which side of the fence you're on, to be honest. We all feel it coming our way, and we all feel justified in dishing it out. And I've read article after article stating that Christians have really messed things up by their responses over the past few weeks and passed up the opportunity to show love. Well, while I could climb upon my soapbox and write a few hundred hours about this thought, I figured I'd keep it to one. Did we really miss an opportunity to love? Was this it? Was this our one chance to show the world the love of Christ? Because if it was, then that's a real shame for everyone.
I don't think love is a one time opportunity. No, in fact, I know it's not. And when we throw around the word love, well, what does that look like, exactly? If we all had the same definition of love, then it'd be really easy to tell whether or not it was being shown. But the truth is that love is a daily, an hourly, a minute by minute occurrence, and we always have the opportunity to show it. I'll be honest with you, I'm not always loving. There are moments, and sometimes days, where I do not feel like loving. Love is a choice, you know, a voluntary act, and sometimes I don't show it because I'm an imperfect person who doesn't always get it right. So does that make me an unloving person? Does that mean I'll never have the opportunity to show love again? Why no, no, it doesn't. Because love is never just a one time gesture. Love always has a second chance.
And so I don't think God's people missed the opportunity to show love to others. Sure, there may have been some unloving exchanges in the heat of the moment, but I don't believe that negates any possibility that Christians can no longer show Christ's love to those with differing opinions and lifestyles. Of course, if love means that we endorse all things and accept all things, then we are absolutely the most unloving group of people for sure. But if we follow the 1 Corinthians 13 definition of love, ( "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." ) then we come to find out that love is a constant work in progress.
But I think that we focus too much on love as if that's all we have to worry about, all we have to offer. It's not the missed opportunities of love that solely drive others away from Christ. Because there's more to following Jesus that simply loving. It's the greatest commandment, but it's not the only one. Jesus tells us that if we're going to be his true disciples, if we're going to be a light in the dark, the salt of the earth, then we have to take up our cross and follow him. We have to live a life that reflects him. We have to surrender and sacrifice, and if you ask me, this right here is where we have missed those opportunities. Those chances to really show the world that there is a different way.
When we began having sex outside of marriage, gluing our eyes to pornography, and accepting that it's just how things are these days, we missed the opportunity to show the world God's beautiful and holy design for intimacy. When we began being unfaithful in our marriages and allowing divorce to become an easy option, we missed the opportunity to reflect Christ's relationship with the church. When we started snowballing ourselves into debt, we missed the opportunity to show the world that God meets all of our needs and is truly our great provider. When we began to take the lives of our unborn children rather than accepting the consequences of our actions, we missed the opportunity to show the world that all life is valuable whether or not we planned it. When we stood at the water cooler at work and gossiped our lips off, we missed the opportunity to show God's kindness and compassion. When we yelled and got angry because things weren't going our way, we missed the opportunity to show God's grace and loyalty. When we held a grudge, we missed the opportunity to show God's mercy and forgiveness. When we whined and complained and threw a fit because we didn't feel that life was being fair, we missed the opportunity to show God's sovereignty. And when we chose not to share our testimony, to hide our wounds and paint ourselves as a picture of perfection to avoid any potential shame or judgment, we missed the opportunity to show God's transforming, life changing, redeeming power to a world that so desperately needs to see it.
It is love, but it's more than love. It's telling people the truth about who you were then and who you are now. Showing them how Christ has transformed and redeemed your life and living out loud like the new creation He created you to be. It's about being different, not perfect. About telling others, showing them your flaws, and then pointing them to Christ so that they, too, can drink from the well of Living Water. It's saying, "I mess up, too. I'm a sinner, but Jesus died for my sins and my life was changed when I accepted him as my Savior. It's not always easy, but it's abundant. It's complete. It's fulfilling."
Love others. Love the Lord. Live your life according to His word. That's what will draw people to Him. That's what will most reflect him, and that's what will bring him glory.
"Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God." - 1 John 5:1-5
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