Shouldn't We Just Love?

There are many hot-button issues in our culture today, and my experience has been that often Christians come down in one of two camps. The first is that no matter what someone has done, all we are to do is love them. The most important thing is to love, which often looks like tolerance. The second camp is that if someone is living in sin, they are wrong and should be judged accordingly. Often this looks like hate.

It seems to me that there should be some sort of middle ground. Jesus definitely commands us as believers to love. He modeled love while He was on earth, and in His death and resurrection as He took the punishment we deserved. John 13:34-35 says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (NIV). Our love for each other must be sincere, and we get a pretty thorough definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13. I don’t think, though, this love extends to tolerance of wrong or sinful behavior. While this behavior in someone else does not give us the license to hate, if we truly care about someone then we do not want them to keep going down a path of sin. God desperately wants people to turn away from sin and follow Him in obedience. In love, shouldn’t we want the same thing?

So where is this middle ground? On the really tough issues like abortion or gay marriage, how do we respond? First of all, I think we need to pray. Ask God to give us a love for people, whether they agree with us or not. We should search the Scriptures, our source of authority on what is right or wrong, to see what God has to say. Then, we shouldn’t back down from what God says is right. Now more than ever it seems people disagree with the positions that the Bible has. But there is no shying away from the things the Bible calls sin. We must rely strongly on the guidance of the Holy Spirit to know how exactly to confront someone who does not agree with the Bible’s position or who is practicing a sinful behavior. God’s grace is amazing and free for all of us! We should continually turn our focus to Him.

I read this quote recently that seemed to really pull together my thoughts on this topic. It is from Bryant Myers' book Walking with the Poor: “God’s love of us and our neighbor can be a tough, truth-telling, there-are-consequences, your-soul-is-in-danger kind of love. But, there is never hate; the enemy is never demonized or declared hopeless. The offer of grace is always there”.

If this is the way God loves us, isn’t that how we should love others?

Pray without Ceasing

1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray continually. 

I used to wonder how this verse was possible. The typical physical form of praying- head bowed, eyes closed- was not feasible to be continued every hour of the day.

I began to understand this verse a bit better when I traveled internationally for the first time by myself to Italy the summer after my junior year of college. There were so many things I was nervous about, so many things I feared would happen just on my journey to get there. Prayer became my lifeline as I asked God to give me peace about each little step, wisdom to know what to do when things didn’t go quite right, and patience with people around me. Stepping into a world where I didn’t know the language, didn’t always have someone to translate and where I was expected to act as one with authority was so intimidating and my first day at the preschool where I was helping I wanted to shout, “Just let me go home! This isn’t what I expected!”. So I prayed more. When the children were throwing temper tantrums and all I knew how to say in Italian was “No!” and “Stop!” (neither of which they listened to very well), I prayed for their little hearts and for my heart to be strong. As I walked around the neighborhood where I was staying, I prayed and asked for God’s blessing and revelation for the people. I couldn’t do much else but pray. It sort of became like breathing: exhaling my worries and fears, the struggles and the good things as well, all before God, and inhaling His precious promises and peace and strength.

I have a feeling the verses surrounding this command are there on purpose as well:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Thanks and joy are a part of that praying without ceasing. They go together. Not only should I let go of all of the fears, worries, whatever, but as I am in a state of "prayerfulness" I think I can see much more clearly how God really is working and praise Him. We can see with different eyes.

The Church in Cambodia- Interesting Facts and Figures

• The Christian population of Cambodia can be said to be between 1.30% and 2.82%. 
• Compared to other religions such as Buddhism and Islam, there is a large percentage of women in leadership roles in Cambodia
• The average age of Cambodian church leaders is 34 years old; the average age in the US is 49
• Only 81.94% of church leaders have been baptized
• The most common occupation in Cambodia is rice farming, which requires the person to stay close to tend to the field. This makes it more difficult for the person to be involved in evangelism and church planting. 

Photo by Ben Tillotson

Gratitude

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter every day epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.

~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

I remember one Thanksgiving, not too long ago, when all my siblings and I were home to celebrate. For some reason we were sitting at the dinner table ready to eat and were quite annoyed with each other. We were bickering and making quite a ruckus, and my mom yelled, “That’s enough! I want everyone to say one thing you are thankful for!” No one was particularly in a mood of thankfulness, but having to shift our focus helped change the attitude at the table.

I have been pondering gratitude a lot lately and have been struck at the power it has to change our lives. There are plenty of things that are rotten about our world right now- evil is alive and well. There are plenty of daily frustrations that can get us down- things like being stuck in traffic which drives me CRAZY! There are plenty of places in the Bible, though, where we are encouraged to be thankful. For example: Psalm 106:1 “Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever”. Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”.

It is easy to say that we need to be grateful, but what are we supposed to be grateful for? Here are several things I have been struck with lately:

• Our gratitude needs to go to God. If we don’t see that He is the source of the goodness in our lives, then I think we have missed the mark.
• We should name specific things. We can all say, “God, thank you for your provision”, and that is a wonderful thing. But we should be specific in what we are grateful for. When I start making a list of these things, my focus really shifts and my eyes are opened to even more things I can thank God for.

I am adding to a list each day of at least three specific things I'm grateful for. It might be something really simple- like yesterday the clouds were splendidly poofy and they were beautiful! The fellowship at the Cambodian church I attend was particularly sweet. My pesto pasta at supper was especially delicious. These are everyday things but because I am looking with eyes of gratitude, perhaps my senses are enhanced and I'm enjoying them even more.

If you started a “gratefulness list” today, what would be on it?