oh the humanity

We've been talking a lot about love these days at United Life: God's love for us, what it means to love others as ourselves, etc. The thing about this conversation is, however, that it is so easy for most of us to use a word like love. I mean, who writes a Mother's Day card without signing at the end, "I love you"? Or how easy is it for us to say we loved this movie or loved that restaurant? 

Perhaps the lone exception to this ease of use is the first time you say those words to your girlfriend or boyfriend. 

Actually, let's stay with that thought for a second. What is it that makes that first "I love you" such a big deal between two people in love? I think it has something to do with what's at stake. When you talk about loving a restaurant, there's not that much investment on your part. When you tell someone you deeply care about that you love them, however, you put yourself at risk. What if they don't feel the same way towards you? What if you can't live up to your words? What if you disappoint one another? All of sudden, with three short words the game changes and you open yourself up to potentially great happiness as well as great suffering.  

Did you know that the word "passion" comes from a Latin word meaning "to suffer" or "to endure"?

I think many churches and Sunday Schools make the mistake of Disney-fying God's love. In an attempt to make it accessible, I think we fail to describe his love with the depth it deserves. The Scriptural meaning of love, however, is a high stakes kind of love. When we talk about God's love for us, we need to talk about a kind of love that is willing to suffer and even die for the sake of another. We need to talk about the Cross.

Did you know God's love for you was like this? 

I don't ask this to put you on a guilt trip. God has no need to motivate us through shame. I ask this in order to remind you of the truth: you are deeply, passionately loved by a God who will smash through mountains for you, who caused the sun to shine for you, who laid his own life down for you. 

Now go and do likewise for others. 

'He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."

Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep."' 

- John 21:17