If I Have Not Love

God chooses ordinary people with ordinary abilities to create great change. Alone we may be powerless to create even a ripple of difference, but within the beautiful bond that is the community shared in the body of Christ, enormous waves of change can alter the face of huge world problems such as poverty and hunger. This is what we are called to. These aren't tedious tasks to be taken lightly. Being a follower of Christ is a lifestyle and means living like he did, humbly and sacrificially. After all, this life was never truly ours to begin with, and this is true even more so for the believer in and follower of Jesus Christ. Who are we to claim our life and what we do or don't do with it? It has been bought at the highest possible price, the blood of Jesus. But I think that in the church we have gotten a few things muddled about the whole living sacrificially thing. It's all for the sake of comfort. We love to protect ourselves. Insurance, security systems, even steel bars to put over the steering wheels of our cars. We want to feel safe and secure, but aren't these tactics the very thing that's gotten us where we are today? We shut people out and marginalize others by acting in a way that says, "my stuff is much more important than yours and it's too expensive for me to think of sharing with anyone else, so I'm going to attach an alarm to it just in case you get greedy and decide to take it from me." But aren't we the same people that go to worship services every week and sing out with eyes closed, tears streaming and hands reaching to heaven, saying things like "you're all I need" and "I have nothing to give but my life"? I'm guilty of it just as much as the next guy, but is any of that true? I know I certainly have my life to give, but I have so much clutter in it that I can give up as well. Giving our life means giving our all, nothing less than that. We claim all this and put human attributes on God thinking that even if we say it and don't do it, he understands. I think this philosophy is wrong. He's God, not our mom. He takes our lives and our word seriously, that's why he gave them to us. I'm not saying that he isn't merciful, but (here I go with the human attributes) it's like telling your husband/wife "your love is the only thing I want" and then spending all your time focusing on work and fun and completely shirking your responsibility to your spouse. We should see this on a exponentially greater scale when we look at our relationship with God. We take his name, we should do what he did. It's all about love. Our service to others has a direct correlation to how much we love God. "If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 The thing is, love is not a guarantee. It is something you have to work at. It is something that requires relationship. We can have all these feelings to serve, to make a difference, to give our lives even, but they can be completely devoid of love and they are all dead actions. We may as well not waste our time if we aren't willing to invest in love toward God and people. I challenge myself as well as everyone who reads this to live meaningfully and live in love.

Peace