Tag Archives: love

Perfect Love

“My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.”

–Brennan Manning

Matthew 5:

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[i] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Do you have an enemy? 

Someone you truly despise?

Okay–maybe not an enemy, but someone you would NEVER consider a friend?

Is it your boss?  Your ex?  Your Dad?  The jackass in the locker room?  The group of girls who won’t let you sit with them at the lunch table?

Get that person in your mind…think of all the things you dislike about them…

Got it?

Now picture Christ, hanging on the Cross, dying for that one person you don’t care for.  There’s no one else around: no guards, not Mary or any of the other followers.  It’s just Jesus and your enemy.  And Jesus is crying as he is dying, asking that person to come join him in Eternity.

Ever thought of it like that?  That Christ loves your enemy just as much as he loves you.  I’m sure you know God adores you, but are you willing to allow him to love those you don’t like?

It’s easy to love our closest loved ones and most-cherished friends, but Jesus told everyone that loving those who love you doesn’t amount to much because it isn’t really a challenge.  But if you can follow Christ in his mercy and genuine goodness toward all people, you are starting to “get it”.

If you love only your friends, then your love is imperfect and incomplete.

“But you don’t understand…!”

While I may not have experienced your specific trauma, I do know pain and anger and hurt and bitterness very well.  Those were the monkeys on my back for years.

Attempting to forgive an affair that hit very close to home several years ago sent me into a tailspin.  Have you read my story regarding the sexual abuse I experienced?  I’ve been there, I do understand how difficult forgiveness and love can be.

What about you? 

What if your enemy is your own self?  Do you hate yourself?  Do you loathe your behavior (past or present)?  Have you ever prayed (or at least wished) you were dead?  Brennan Manning said this, “Real freedom is freedom from the opinions of others. Above all, freedom from your opinions about yourself. ”

What would it take for you to find the freedom to love yourself?  Sounds funny, right?  But true freedom is that you can appreciate where you’ve come from, that you are hopeful about where you’re going, and that you love the place you are currently.  All have sinned…but God’s love never fails.

Let us be challenged to love others in the same way that Christ has loved us.

I’ll leave you with a wonderful story by my favorite author, Brennan Manning, from his book Ragamuffin Gospel:

Perhaps you’ve heard this story: Four years ago in a large city in the far West, rumors spread that a certain Catholic woman was having visions of Jesus. The reports reached the archbishop. He decided to check her out. There is always a fine line between the authentic mystic and the lunatic fringe.

“Is it true, ma’am, that you have visions of Jesus?” asked the cleric.

“Yes,” the woman replied simply.

“Well, the next time you have a vision, I want you to ask Jesus to tell you the sins that I confessed in my last confession.”

The woman was stunned. “Did I hear you right, bishop? You actually want me to ask Jesus to tell me the sins of your past?”

“Exactly. Please call me if anything happens.”

Ten days later the woman notified her spiritual leader of a recent apparition. “Please come,” she said.

Within the hour the archbishop arrived. He trusted eye-to-eye contact. “You just told me on the telephone that you actually had a vision of Jesus. Did you do what I asked?”

“Yes, bishop, I asked Jesus to tell me the sins you confessed in your last confession.”

The bishop leaned forward with anticipation. His eyes narrowed.

“What did Jesus say?”

She took his hand and gazed deep into his eyes. “Bishop,” she said, “these are his exact words: I CAN’T REMEMBER.’”

Thanks,

Steve

Only love? That seems WAY too simple.

  • This weekend, Aaron Keyes said, “Isn’t it amazing that we are constantly fighting against God, yet He is always fighting for us?”
  • Though some sins may seem more heinous than others, forgiveness remains constant.  Actions change, “bad” seems to increase or decrease, but forgiveness remains the same, no matter what.  This makes me think of my Momma: she raised us three boys (each very different from the other), and each of us made some big goof-ups.  Even though some of those mistakes seemed bigger than others, and at times, one of us boys may have seemed “worse” than the others, Mom’s forgiveness was constant, her hope in our future was constant, and her love was constant.  We faltered and fumbled, but she didn’t. 
  • Yesterday, I listened to the true story of a man in his 50′s, who was badly bullied (because of a disability).  He was beaten up multiple times in high school, kicked in his genitals constantly, and later had to have a testicle removed, due to the physical trauma he endured as a teenager.  Where was the Good Samaritan for this guy?  I wanted to weep as I watched and listened.  We must do something to combat bullying.  We must.  I must.
  • 1 John 4:

    7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God (Steve’s thought: that seems WAY too simple). The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love (Steve’s thought: Wait, you mean you can have all kinds of knowledge, but if you don’t love, you don’t know God?). This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

    11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us (Steve’s thought: I think I’m seeing a pattern here…you telling me that it all hinges on love?), and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

    13-16 This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit (Steve’s thought: where do “works” come into play?  This makes it sound like the whole thing rests on God’s shoulders and not on us.). Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.

    17-18 God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear (Steve’s thought: So you mean to say that if we love God and love others, we have nothing to fear?  Awesome!). Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

    19 We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.

    20-21 If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar (Who exactly qualifies for “brother or sister” status?  You don’t mean we have to love drug addicts, prostitutes, and those creepy little homos do ya?). If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both. (Steve’s final thought: I’ve always said, “Love God and love people”, but actually I have been saying it wrong all along.  This says, “Loving God INCLUDES loving people.”  So I can’t say I love God, if I don’t love ALL the people He created.  I guess now, the only questions are “What does love look like?” and “Just how far does love go?”)

ATTIC,

Steve

“I’m a dunkey! I’m a dunkey!”

“Don’t make us only passionate for You, God, but make us passionate for the things You are passionate about”.  Or something like that.

My buddy Ben is one of my dearest guy friends and an incredible worship leader.  Having the privilege of leading with him regularly is one of the highlights of my week.  The music is always top-notch, but the sincerity behind the worship leader flows down and out to everyone in the room.  He’s just a fantastic guy…did I mention he’s my friend?  Okay, just checking.  Calm down, killa!

So this morning, Ben prayed the above prayer, and it gave me pause.  “…make us passionate for the things You are passionate about”. 

Passionate.

Passion.

Passion Week.

Passion fruit.  Okay, not so much.

I love how God will take the hearts of a few willing people and string their passions together into a beautiful symphony to teach and inspire “the rest of us”.  This morning was one of those symphonies.  From Ben’s prayer, to Jeremy’s comment on King Jesus and the donkey, to Pastor Julie’s teaching on the humility of God, it all just seemed to effortlessly fit together.

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...

What are the things God is passionate about?

  • People
  • Humble lives
  • Love
  • Service
  • Generosity

What else would you add to the list?

The great thing about this Great King is that He didn’t tell us how to live from some throne on High, but he showed us how to live lives of love, humility, service, and generosity.  The Son of God, rode into town on a donkey.  That’s about as lowly as you can get!

My prayer during this “Holy Week” is that I would come just a little bit closer to living the life God intended for me to live: one that acts out of my love for God in simple, humble, and kind ways.

ATTIC,

Steve

Because I’ve Been There

After church, I went out for lunch with my 6 year old. Zoe’s Kitchen is the kind of restaurant where you order at the front, take a number on a stand, then have a seat until a worker brings your food and retrieves the number.

But this was Sunday after church…. So FIND a seat is more accurately what folks were doing.

We had a table and our lunch: we were chatting and eating when she struggled near us. The dragging of the high chair was blocked by the crowded tables. With a baby on her hip, she dipped down so the high chair would be on the crook of her elbow and off the floor. The high chair dropped off her arm, so she hefted the baby a bit higher and dipped lower to try again.

I have been there. When I was a single mom, there were times two hands were simply not enough. A sleeping baby in the carseat, an empty gas tank, and a messed up debit card reader was overwhelming to the point of tears. Even when I was not a single mom, my husband was out of town many weekends. One particular soccer dad would appear at my car as I parked. He would re-tie my daughter’s cleats if needed and carry my chair and the cooler of snacks while I loaded my new baby in the stroller. My mind came back to the present.

“Be right back.” I said to my six year old as I hopped up and took the high chair from the young mom. “Let me help you with this. Where do you want it?” “Way over there.” she said and pointed to a table against the wall. I lifted the chair as high as I could so it would fit through the space. I sat it down at her table, touched the sweet baby on her head and said “There you go.” as I returned to my child and our lunch.

I am not bragging. What I did was tiny. It took little effort and cost absolutely nothing. But I did wonder about all those other people in the restaurant. All those who had obviously just come from church. This 20-something mom had three friends sitting with her, though no one else had kids. No one else had offered to help. Maybe they didn’t notice her struggle – it was crowded. Or maybe they just didn’t get it because they have never been there.

I have been there and I knew.

Where have you been? Is it somewhere that others are now? Is there something you can do to help them through? How is God using where you’ve been to show His love today?

ATTIC,
gigi

It Matters

A reminder from my little one.

Image

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love….
13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-7, 10 MSG
Oh yeah. It matters about love.

ATTIC,
gigi