The Change, Part 1

"When did love become

Unmoving?

When did love become

Unconsuming?

Forgetting what the world

has told me,

Father of Love,

You can have me."

Ask the average "heathen" what Christians are like today and you won't hear curiosity or wonder on the topic. You won't hear "loving," "sacrificial," "patient," "understanding," or "accepting/welcoming." At least, I don't.

No, what I hear are things like, "Aren't they supposed to be nice?" and "judgmental," "snooty/stuck-up/thinking themselves better than others," and, "I fart in your general direction." I see person after person putting up defensive walls against this group of people that hates them. And I know that people will always hate God, because that is our nature and we are given to breaking His laws and we don't think He has a right to have laws...but should they ever be able to rightfully say that we are "unloving"? It breaks my heart that they are right! I can tell you right now that I told to love but taught to judge and keep others out. I often don't know how to handle disagreeing with someone's lifestyle when I love them. How do I love them without offering my approval of "x,y,z" and how do I tell them (even when it comes up not by my own choice and I am forced to answer) without sounding like I think I'm perfect? 

The hatred I feel towards me, even from those close to me, and even when it is directed at another believer (or expressed beleiver, as not all who claim to be, are) is hard to bear sometimes! For all their cries that love should reign, they still lash out with the same anger and hatred they have received from "Christians". Because it is what we do. Hurting people hurt people. 

But the love of God is not like that! The love of God may have boundaries, but it is inviting! It is cleansing, strengthening, forgiving, healing, and renewing (just to name few traits)! 

My cry out today is to my fellow believers: Fighting fire with fire will never put out the flames, and it will not save the life of the ones engulfed in them. Ever. We may get burned by getting close enough to pour water on them, but that is still what we need to do: pour water on the flames. The boundaries that God has will still turn people against us, because we don't like change, and we don't like people, or God, telling us we're not perfect, or good enough, on our own, and neither does anybody else (and imagine accepting that if you don't (and don't know why you should) love God). Jesus said that He is the Living Water (when speaking with the Samaritan woman in the Book of John), and that is how we need to "fight" the fire! 

We also need each others help -- because every situation is different. There is a way to love a person who hates you, and a way to love a person who does not live their life for Jesus Christ, but the ways to do this are many -- not one! We all have lessons we have learned, about God, about people, about ourselves, and that information is what will help us tailor our love for our not-Christian neighbors according to each one. We need to continue to learn more from God Himself, about Himself, ourselves, and others, because God loves us each individually, so He must love each of His creations individually.

As the Lord leads, I want to delve deeper into just what and how God's love changes, starting with Humility. That is why I titled this as "Part 1". There is just no way to fit it all in one blog without starving to death, or by my brain exploding from all the different aspects of how God's love is moving and consuming, unlike the love I express by default.