Lately I hear some tough questions coming up in my quiet time. At the grocery story. At home. In traffic. They are constantly going through my mind.
What am I spreading? Am I spreading His unconditional perfect love? Or am I spreading broken conditional love?
Do people see love or do they see judgment? Do they see me or do they see him? If they see him are they seeing love or rules, harshness or grace?
How do people in the world see the church? Do they see love or a business? Do they see church as an exclusive country club that they can't belong to? Maybe they think they can't belong because of what they have done or haven't done? Maybe they don't want to go to church because of judgment they have made or a judgment that was made on them?
What about those in the church? Do they see love? Do they feel love? Or do they always feel like they don't belong or don't measure up? Do people in the church know what love is? Does the church know that we are asked to only love others? Do people in the church love the right way?
Do we even know what we are suppose to be spreading? I wonder that every time I see another "Christian" actor, reality star or singer under fire in the news for what they stood up for? Did they stand up for the right thing? Or it just another thing we "Christians" are known for being against?
Why do people know what we are against more than they know what we are for?
What if we stood up for love instead?
Does this mean we don't share our view on certain topics? It might mean exactly that.
Love may mean keeping our opinion to ourselves. I believe we might just not speak at all when we are more concern with loving others instead of letting our opinion known.
Love spreads sometimes more in silence than in words.
Are you loving people? Really loving people? He asked me that a few months ago in my quiet time. I honestly knew I was not. Gulp. Yep. I am guilty, too.
I am not pointing fingers at any one. I am raising my hands and saying Lord help me love!
Are you telling people you love them? Yes my mind quickly and rather proudly answered. You can be telling them but not showing them. Oh snap! He sure calls me out.
I knew my lips were saying one thing but my actions said another.
So I ask- Are there people in your life that judge God's love based on the way you love them?
Ouch. I know it is a tough question. I can tell you though there was a point in my journey that I was going to church and pretty much was judging his love based on the way people were showing love or not showing love. I judged his love based on the way the church was and the way people in his church was showing me love.
How could he love me when these people didn't? These people with pastor titles and high positions in the church did not love me then God could not love me. I wonder how many others had felt the same way.
One day I was ready to give up. I was ready to run. Run from him. Run from church. I wanted no part of this type of love.
God showed up that day.
"Don't judge God's love on the way others love you." Jan Greenwood's Facebook post read one evening. I cried. I knew it was for me. It changed my heart.
Changed my life.
See, I too, wasn't loving others the way I was asked to love others. This broke my heart.
Still does.
I wonder how many people don't know His love based on the way I have acted or because of things I have said or haven't said.How many people had I caused to run from His arms? How many people wanted nothing to do with Him because I had showed them my love; not his love.
Forget the way people were treating me. I couldn't change others. I couldn't change the way they loved but I could change myself. He didn't show me that post to point fingers at others. He showed me that post to get me to stop looking at others and their love and to start looking at Him and his love.
People have great intentions. However, sometimes good intentions are done from our own messed up idea of what love is and not from His love.
We are not perfect and we never will be. However, I wondered what would happen if we got out of the way and just allowed God to love others through us. I wonder what crazy things would happen?
What if we loved others? What if we just loved people with no agenda? What if we stopped trying to fix people and save people? He doesnt fix people; He loves them just the way they are. He saves people by loving them.
What if we love others the way Jesus does? Love them when they are broken or messy? Love them right where they are and the way they are. Not for what they can be or the way you want them to be.
There is no formula. I have realized that when I love people from my strength- I get annoyed, I find faults, I try to take over as their Holy Spirit - but when I ask him to love them through me, oh man, it is a beautiful thing.
Love is going to save people.
Love is going to heal people.
Love is all we were asked to do. Do our actions speak love? Do our lives speak love? Do our words speak love?
We may need to start asking ourselves these tough questions before we can do anything.
❤️KGB