Loved in order to love
Jonathan at “Missio Dei” has written a revealing post about love which he calls “A Theology That Leads to Love“. First, Jonathan discusses his “theological” education:
When all is said and done, I realized that over the course of my journey, at least for the first twenty-five years, I was not really told to practice love. Most of my education has been in the previous three. And I realized this morning that much of my development was not a theology that leads to love. Much of it was information on a chalk board. It was who could be the smartest or knew the right answer. It was information to digest and argue and debate, but rarely to practice in context.
Then, he reflects on this education in the context of Jesus’ teaching that the greatest commandments are to love God and love others:
And it seems rather strange to me that God breaks it down to such a simple mandate. But what radically changed my journey was the practice of love. Was I really going to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and love? Was I going to really love the person next to me when I didn’t feel like it? Was I going to forgive when it didn’t feel good?
Once I began to practice love, I began to realize how ridiculously hard it is. It revealed my brokenness in ways that were entirely uncomfortable. It exposed me in ways that revealed how much I needed love in the first place. When I was talking about love, it was always referencing what I was supposed to do and that was easy. It was removed from context and experience. But when I practiced love, I couldn’t deny my own failure at it.
We can talk about love, dissect love, parse love, explain love, and systematize love. But, when we actually pracitce love, we find out who we really are – we find out how desperate we need the love of God. Theology is not complete when we study the love of God. Instead, theology is complete when we demonstrate the love of God to others.
God loves the homeless
A few months ago, in a post called “Reaching Beyond the Bubble“, I copied part of a poem that I saw on “The Thin Edge“. The poem touched me at that time, and it still does today. Here is the poem in its entirety:
I am homeless
by Jamey Mills Wysocki
I came here because my house burned down last night.
We lost everything. We had no where else to go.
I am so scared and don’t know where to go from here.
Would you reach out to me?
I am homeless.
I am here because my boyfriend beat me so bad.
I was afraid for my life and for my children.
If you could see my battered body and broken spirit,
Would you reach out to me?
I am homeless.
I am here because my husband passed away,
and I could no longer pay all the bills.
I tried so hard, and could not do it alone.
I have five children with me. We are scared.
Would you reach out to me?
I am homeless.
I am here because I lost everything in a divorce.
My wife, my kids, my home.
I was broken financially trying to fight to keep them.
I am trying to put my life back together and I am scared and alone.
Would you reach out to me?
I am homeless.
I am here because I ran away from home.
I couldn’t take my father’s abuse anymore.
I have no hope left. I am scared.
Would you reach out to me?
I am homeless.
I need to see God’s love right now.
I feel so alone and scared.
Would you please pray for me.
I am homeless.
I had planned to post something else today, but yesterday, the person who wrote that poem (Jamey Wysocki) left a few comments on my blog (go to the post above to read all of her comments). What she said was too good to leave in the comments. So, here are some of excerpts to round out our understanding of this poem and homelessness:
I am a christian mom, who due to domestic violence found herself in a situation that I never thought would happen to me… I wrote that poem so that others could see the different situations which brings a person to homelessness. And there are many different situations which can bring someone to homelessness.
Homelessness can happen to anyone. I never thought it would happen to me, but it did.
And I seen homelessness in a way that I never thought possible. I seen the different faces of homelessness. People tend to stereotype homeless people, but in reality, it can happen to anyone and I wanted others to see what I had seen. So I wrote this poem “I Am Homeless,” based on my experience of being homeless and what I had seen while in the shelter. I seen someone there who had lost a home in a house fire, another was there because they lost their job and could no longer afford the payments on their home. I met a single mom who was escaping an abusive relationship. Can you imagine what it must be like to have no place to go? To have no family who can help you? It’s a scary place to be and I will never forget that experience… or the tears and the anguish I seen in the eyes of those who had no place else to go.
She also left this comment in reply to Aussie John’s remembrance of the love and care that his wife showed to the homeless:
“I have great memories of my wife putting her arms around a prostitute, setting a bath for her, washing her clothes and loaning some of her own, making a bed for her and welcoming her at our meal table.” (Aussie John)
That is showing the love of God. It’s not about money because money only provides temporary relief. But love…that lasts a lifetime and has the greatest impact on another’s life. To love another regardless of their situation in life. That’s how God loves us…unconditionally. He loves me when I don’t deserve it. He loves me when I have failed and made mistakes. He loves me. He is LOVE.
God loves the homeless. He loves the homeless family whose house burned down. He loves the girl whose boyfriend beat her. He loves the widow and orphans who could not afford to pay the bills. He loves the divorcee who lost everything. He loves the abused runaway. He even loves those who are homeless because of bad decisions, addictions, mental illness, and even laziness. God loves the homeless.
However – and I’m being as honest as I can here – I have never allowed God to love the homeless through me. When I read Jamey’s comments and I remembered the first time I read her poem and how it affected me, my heart was broken again. I desire to be a channel of God’s love to the least – to those who cannot repay that love – to those who may think that God has turned his back on them. That’s what I want, but that’s not where I am.
I think Jamey’s poem will help me. Why? Notice the title of this blog post: “God loves the homeless”. It is easy to make general statements like that. It is easy to group people together according to a certain criteria and state that God loves that group. Jamey’s poem pulls the individuals out of the amorphous, faceless group and makes them real people. Yes, God loves the homeless, but more importantly, he loves each individual person who happens to find himself or herself without a home.
It is one thing to look across a faceless blob and state, “God loves you”. It is another thing altogether to peer into the eyes of someone who is hurting and say, “God loves you”. The eyes looking back at you may require proof – and you may be the proof that God sends – I may be that proof. Am I willing to look into those eyes? Am I willing to peer into the eyes of the family whose house burned down, or the young girl who was beaten by her boyfriend, or the widow and orphans, or the divorcee? Am I will to state that God loves them, and then demonstrate that love as Aussie John’s wife did?
Yes, it is much easier to state, “God loves the homeless”. It is much more difficult – but also much more like Jesus – to look into the eyes of the homeless person and show them that God loves them. Like I said earlier, I’m not there yet.
A Time to Talk
I love this poem by Robert Frost. I want this to be a picture of my life and my care for other people.
A Time to Talk
by Robert Frost
When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don’t stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven’t hoed,
And shout from where I am, What is it?
No, not as there is a time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.
(HT: Backyard Missionary)
We know that they are his disciples…
John 13:34-35 is probably one of the passages that is the easiest to understand, yet the hardest to obey:
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35 ESV)
As we were travelling over our Christmas break, I asked my family the following question: “What did people do this year that showed you that they loved you?” Margaret, Jeremy, Miranda, and I had several different responses, so I thought I would list some of them here – in no particular order.
- Someone (or some people) bought a propane tank for us, had it installed, and had it filled with propane.
- A friend of ours spent extra time with our daughter, taking Miranda to a movie and having a spend the night party with her.
- Many, many friends brought us dinner without us requesting it when we were sick.
- One friend spent alot of money and time rebuilding the engine in our van. He and another friend also changed the oil for us a few times.
There are many other ways that people demonstrated their love for us over the previous year, which means they also demonstrated that they are disciples of Jesus Christ.
Did anyone demonstrate their love for you this year? If so, then they are demonstrating that they are disciples of Christ. Do you think that during the previous year you demonstrated to other people that you are a disciple of Christ?
Beginning the new year
I can think of no better way to begin 2008 than being reminded of our mission. Dave Black does just this in his post from this morning:
As I meditated upon Acts 1:8 this morning I realized again: Je me dois à tout les hommes. I should like to be able to do anything in my power to help them, especially the most needy. I’m very glad the younger generation of evangelicals is waking up to the priority of love and good deeds over degrees and reputations. Acts 1:8 is an excellent summary and analysis of Jesus’ teaching. (1) Missions is for all of us. (2) Missions is utterly impossible without the Holy Spirit’s power. (3) Missions is everywhere: locally, regionally, globally, even cross-culturally.
Thank you for this reminder!
When the Gospel is Social
Many evangelicals cringe when they hear the words “gospel” and “social” together in the same sentence. Many times their minds immediately connect the two words into one term: “social gospel”. And from there, of course, they think about terms such as “works salvation”.
Unfortunately, I think these thoughts have caused many evangelicals to give up on helping relieve social problems. In fact, I believe the “social gospel” may exist because those who believe the gospel are not concerned with social work. I’m glad that this is not the case with all evangelicals. Consider the following snippet from my Ph.D. mentor, David Alan Black (from Thursday, December 13 at 9:27 am):
As you know, it has long been our desire to dig wells and thus supply fresh drinking water in Alaba and Burji. There is always a certain tension among missionaries between those who are devoted to personal evangelism and those who are concerned about social issues. We see no problem in bringing both sides together in a joint operation. Once we have trained local church leaders to dig wells on church property, they will have an important preaching point where their evangelists can point non-believers to the Water of Life as they come to draw water for free. It will, no doubt, be very hard work.
I love the connection between the gospel and social work – between recognize the need for spiritual nourishment and physical nourishment.
If I remember correctly, John placed these two concepts (gospel and works) side-by-side:
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18 ESV)
And, James said something similar:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17 ESV)
These are sometimes difficult passages for those of us who believe we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). But, of course, that passage doesn’t end there, does it? We see that even Paul associated works with the gospel:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV)
What do we do if our heart does not break and we do not take action when we see someone hurting, oppressed, widowed, orphaned, hungry, thirsty? What do we do when our faith does not work? What do we do when it seems that the love of God is not in us because we are not demonstrating the love of God? What if we are not concerned about “the least of these“?
I will leave those questions to you, my readers. How would you respond to someone who asked the questions above? How would respond to someone who said that they have faith, but they rarely if ever demonstrate that faith by caring for others?
The least of these…
Next Sunday, we’re going to begin studying through the book of Matthew together. As I’ve been reading through Matthew, there have been several passages that God has used to convict me. The following passage is one of those (I recognize that this passage is long, and probably familiar, but please humor me and read it one more time):
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Matthew 25:31-46 ESV)
I believe that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by works. However, it seems that this salvation results in certain outward signs – works. The works are so important that in this passage Jesus says that the “righteous” and the “wicked” – the “sheep” and the “goats” if you prefer – can be divided based on what they do for “the least of these”. In fact, he says that whatever we do for “the least of these” we are actually doing for Jesus, and whatever we refuse to do for “the least of these” we are in reality refusing to do it for Jesus. This is an expression of faith or an expression of a lack of faith.
This is certainly not the only passage dealing with faith. And, again, I’m not suggesting that we are saved because of our works. I do not believe that at all. However, as James says, the kind of faith that saves us is also the kind of faith that works. I don’t think we can separate the two. Similarly, John says that faith results in love – love for God and love for other people. In fact, he says that if someone does not love a brother or sister in need by providing for that need, that the love of God is not in that person. That’s quite a statement!
My heart is being moved toward “the least of these” – the widow, the orphan, the stranger (alien), the oppressed, the sick, the hungry, the prisoner, the destitute. As my heart is being moved closer to “the least of these” I think it is also being moved closer to God.
I’ve had a few opportunities recently to demonstrate my love and concern for “the least of these”. God used me to demonstrate his love in some of those instances. I wish I could say that I was always faithful in demonstrating the love of Christ, but I was not. I’m learning. I’m growing. I’m becoming more faithful. But, I’m not there yet.
How has God given you opportunities to love and care for “the least of these”?
Can we talk?
Have you seen the Kleenex commercials with the tag line “Let it out”? The man on the street with a box of tissue and big sofa can apparently get anyone to talk. This ad campaign has me thinking about communication and conversation.
My wife, Margaret, has always said that I can talk to anyone. In a way, she’s correct, because I’ve learned to ask people about themselves. People like to talk about themselves. They like to talk about their families and their past and their home town and their favorite sports team and their hobbies. So, as I learn about people, I simply ask them questions about the topics that they bring up. In other words, I let people talk about themselves.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t ask people about themselves simply so that they will talk. I am genuinely interested. I like to hear people’s stories and I like to hear how God is working in their lives, and so I ask people about themselves. I’ve learned alot about people that they probably would not normally express simply by asking questions about them.
Occasionally, I get emails from people who read my blog. That’s a good thing. I put my email address on my sidebar several months ago because I wanted people to be able to communicate with me if they wanted to ask questions and make a statement without doing so publicly.You’ve seen some of those emails published here as “guest blog” posts. I always ask permission before I publish anyone’s email. When I get these emails and answer any questions that I can answer, I always ask the person if they would share something about themselves. Almost everyone who emails me responds to my question. Again, people like to talk about themselves.
I think that this is the key to the Kleenex ad campaign. Kleenex knows that people like to talk about themselves, and they are simply giving people an outlet to do just that. It works, by the way. Give people an opportunity, and they will gladly express themselves. Of course, someone has to be willing to listen and genuinely interested in hearing what the person has to say.
This type of communication and conversation is very important. For believers, most of the “one anothers” of Scripture are based on some type of communication. In order to consider one another, stir up one another to love and good works, encourage one another, submit to one another, etc. we must be willing to listen to what one another has to say. Perhaps “listen to one another” is the foundational unspoken “one another” of Scripture. But, I think, “listen to one another” is actually assumed in “love one another”. If we love one another, we will want to hear what the other person thinks, feels, dreams, experiences, believes, fears, etc.
But, this is where the rub comes. Everyone likes to talk about themselves. But, who is willing to suppress their own desire in order to allow another person to talk about themselves? You see, listening to one another actually goes against human nature. We like to talk about ourselves; we don’t automatically like to listen to other people talk about themselves. We like to control the conversation; we don’t necessarily like to listen to other people talk. We like to choose the categories and topics; we don’t necessarily like for other people to drift into “taboo” areas.
In reality, we are less like the guy in the Kleenex commercial, and more like Mike Myers’ character Linda Richman in the Saturday Night Live skit “Coffee Talk”. Linda liked to control the conversation – which usually revolved around Barbara Streisand, her favorite person. It didn’t matter who was the guest on Linda’s fake talk show, they always talked about Linda’s interests. Even when Linda got too emotional and couldn’t talk, she wanted to control the conversation by offering a topic. If you’re too young to have seen this skit, or if you don’t remember it, trust me, it was good, like buttah.
I think this may help explain why many relationships are rather shallow. Everyone wants to talk about themselves, but few are willing to listen. Also, I think this explains why unbelievers do not want to talk to Christians. When a Christian says to an unbeliever, “Can we talk?” the unbeliever knows that the Christian really means, “I want to tell you why you’re wrong and what you should believe”. In fact, I think many people have learned the correct answers to certain questions just in case a Christians decides to “talk” to them. Some of these people probably even think they are Christians because they know these correct answers. But, since so few people are willing to listen, those people may have never truly expressed themselves and their own beliefs.
Can we consider others better than ourselves and humble ourselves in order to listen instead of talk? I’m certainly not perfect in this area, and often find myself trying to control a conversation. But, thinking through things like this help me to remember to God values people, and I should as well. God listens to my prayers, and I should be willing to listen to other people too.
You’ll have to excuse me. I’m a little verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic…
Thankful
I couldn’t think of a better title for this post. Our family is thankful. Yes, I realize that this is Thanksgiving season, but turkeys, pilgrims, and cranberry sauce are not the source of our thankfulness. It is getting colder, especially in the mornings. When we bought our house last year, it had a gas fireplace, but we are currently out of gas. So, Monday, I was planning to call our local propane company to order a refill for our propane tank. (In case you were not a reader last winter, some friends – who are still unknown to us – paid to have a propane tank installed and filled for us. See my post called “On being honored…“) However, before I could call the propane company, they called us. It seems that some friends have once again paid for our propane gas! So, to that friend or friends, our family wants to say, “Thank you!” Thank you for honoring us, and most of all, thank you for allowing God to work through you to bless our family. You have spurred us on to love and good works…
[UPDATE: This afternoon, a friend came by my office and handed me $100, a gift from another friend. Again, I do not know who gave us this money, but we are extremely grateful, both to you and to God.]
What if we met to edify one another?
Occasionally, I’m asked if I think churches today should meet in the same way that churches met in the first century, as described in the New Testament. This questions is usually followed by a statement such as, “Should we also wear robes and sandals when we meet together?”
Certainly there are major differences between the twenty-first century and the first century. While I do not believe that we should do everything exactly like the church did in the New Testament, I do believe that we who live in the twenty-first century can learn something from those who lived in the first century – even when it comes to the church meeting.
First of all, consider the standard church meeting of today. These meetings usually center on locations, leaders, music, preaching, and money. Are these bad things? No. People need a place to meet. It is good to recognize leaders. Singing praise to God is a good thing. Preaching and teaching are important. Money is necessary for some of the things that we do. But, do we find these things the focus of the church meeting in the New Testament.
I suggest that if we study the meeting of the church in the New Testament, we will not find a focus on location, leaders, music, preaching, or money. Are they important. Yes, but they are not most important. I suggest that instead of changing the way the church meets today, we would learn more by changing our focus during the meeting to the focus of the gathered church in the New Testament.
What was the focus of the gathered church in the New Testament? The purpose of the church meeting was to allow each believer an opportunity to exercise his or her spiritual gifts in a manner that built up other believers, that is, that encouraged them toward maturity in Jesus Christ. If the church changed its focus today, would it change the way that we meet? I think that it would. However, if we start with changing the way that we meet, then we are starting with the wrong thing. Let’s start with our purpose. If we start with the purpose of building up one another in Christ, then the format of the meeting will fall into place.
If we start by recognizing that we should meet together so that we can build up one another, then the reason for locations, leaders, music, preaching, and money also falls into place. Similarly, we can make decisions based on the reason that we meet together as a church.
Think about the way your church meets. Does the meeting of your church reflect the purpose of allowing each believer to exercise his or her spiritual gifts in order to build up others toward maturity in Christ?