Love that Walks.
Jesus really was on to something, love may be the only truly transforming power in the world.
I like Jesus.
He loved God and I think Jesus loved himself. Don't you?
I mean, you have to really love yourself in order to love like he did.
Perhaps that’s why he was able to say and do the things he did.
Jesus was big on love
And I think he was right,
love is the only way to truly transform the world.
Love is one of those “wise thoughts” that have been thought of a thousand times but to truly allow love to “become mine” then it must take root in my personal experience. I must have experienced love in order to be able to love. I am not talking about being “told” that I am loved, although that is a start. I’m talking about being loved and received with grace “just as I am” by another human being. I mean those who walk along beside me on my journey and encourage me to move beyond self-imposed limits or those limits instilled by others.
That is rare
but when that love is poured out-- I am changed.
The change that takes place is the change within where I begin to recognize that I am valued as a person.
It is God’s love in action through another human being that transformation begins to shape our lives. Oh, people can be abused and made to fear but that doesn’t transform them. It only forces them to hide from who they are as God’s children. It may make folks alter behavior but it suppresses life. It’s like when you were a kid and had to apologize for something that you were not sorry. It may make mom feel better but it does little more than to cause a kid to suppress his/her feelings.
I’m not talking about the kind of love where you “love me enough” by pointing out all my flaws and sins. That’s not really love, no matter what some religious folks may say. I’m talking about the love that meets me and holds me where I am in spite of my flaws and sin. That kind of love doesn’t come easy or only when one feels up to it. That kind of love is challenging, taxing and costs something. That’s why I am not always so great a love. We have to give up our power-- it costs us our right to control another through our judgments. I have to look beyond myself in order to love you. That's hard.
And when folks have looked beyond themselves and loved me as I am,
I have been transformed.
That’s what God did.
That’s what God does.
God is the Love that walks with us.
3 Comments:
I always got a kick out of the dcTalk song, "Luv Is A Verb." It's been the heart and soul of what I believe about followers of Christ (as opposed to Christians) - if I love people, then I'm probably showing that love to them in some concrete way.
The Bible talks about healing as a priest laying hands on the head. I believe that these days, the touch of healing is almost always two arms wrapped around one who is hurting in a hug. It's not just telling someone they are loved, but sharing the embrace that says it clearly.
So many times, I have heard people who claim Christ as savior say to others, "Yes, God loves you, but you need to repent of your sin." God knows, I heard that very thing enough in my own life! The message that I got was, "Well, God kinda-sorta loves you as the rotgut sinner that you are - but he'll REALLY love you when you've repented."
It's taken 15 years to come to the realization that when Jesus encountered the woman caught in adultery, he didn't say, "Neither do I condemn you. Now go and sin no more - or I will have to condemn you."
In short, I am absolutely sure there is no "but" in the statement "God loves you." The hard part, for me, has been in learning that there is no "but" in the statement "God loves me," either.
this is one of those print-it-out and-read-often posts.
beautifully said, Rick.
I agree with So I Go. I am struggling with my faith and everything else right now and before I opened your blog I prayed that it would speak to me...of course it did, it always does.
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