This is what it is all about...(not the hokey pokey)

Matthew 22:37-40 has been on my mind a lot lately. Like for months actually. It has been consuming my thoughts, so I guess it is time I write about it.

37Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

What does it really mean to love God that much? I’m fairly certain it is a level of perfect love that we as humans will never actually reach, but we should strive for every second of every day. I think as Christians, we get that. We need to love God. We need to put Him first. We need to trust Him. We need to let Him lead our lives. Putting those things into action is what is really more difficult. Let’s face it. We have a lot of distractions in our lives that keep us from loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind.  But like I said, I think we know we should strive for that love.

The second part of that command which Jesus says is EQUALLY important – to love our neighbor as yourself? Wait……what? I’m supposed to love everyone as much as I love myself?

1 John 3:11

11This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

Romans 12: 9-10

9Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

1If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.8Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.11When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Romans 13:8

8 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.

These verses are just the tip of the iceberg. Seriously, love is kind of the theme.  Especially loving others.

Here is my question. Why is this so hard for Christians? Sadly, Christians are known to be some of the most hateful and ugly people around the world. What kind of disservice are we doing to the name of Christ? I mean, really? Friends, what are we doing?

Dude, Jesus loved. He loved everyone. He hung out with the unlovable.  He taught them. He fed them. He healed them. He loved people.  Jesus was love. Jesus is LOVE.

Aren’t we supposed to be like Jesus? That is a rhetorical question, in case you didn’t know.

I seriously get all warm and bubbly thinking about Jesus. He was hands down the coolest guy who ever walked the face of the earth. I want to be like Him. I really do. I eff it up daily, but He is patient with me.

So my challenge for whomever reads this little blog of mine is this….

Walk the walk, people. Stop giving Christianity a bad name. Stop doing things in the name of Jesus that aren’t Christ-like. LOVE. Love unconditionally. Forgive. Help. Use your spiritual gifts. Make a difference. Show grace. Love others. Don’t pretend to love. Really love them. Look at people as Jesus sees them and remember that God made that person too.

The church isn’t about pretty candles. It isn’t about whether or not you think the music is at an acceptable level. It isn’t about the Sunday School rooms being big enough. It isn’t about the thermostat setting in the worship area. It isn’t about sermons that make you feel happy and don’t challenge you. It isn’t about whether or not you agree with every little thing. Being the church is about coming together as a unified body of believers who have one greater purpose.  

John 17:20-23 (part of Jesus’ prayer)

20I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

22“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.