What will it take to love like Jesus?
My first thought was that not everyone asks. Many will just go on silently with their struggle on their own. Why? Because they don’t want to be seen as weak or less than their peers. They don’t want to admit they are falling short some how in walking it all out in faith. Some won’t come to just one more have themselves thumped over the head with a bible by their well meaning “friends”. Others because they have seen what others have so say or how they react to that particular struggle.
What is my responsibility as a pastor and a friend that happens to also be a Christian?
It’s easy to quote Bible verses! Heck these days we can look up the verse on our phones if we need a reference by just doing a web search. It is easy! We have so many people telling us out in the world why this sin or that one is the one that is bringing us to the brink of the final coming. And those same people will pull out their Bibles and tell us why we are on the brink? But I want to suggest that Jesus expects more from us. He wants us to roll up our sleeves and make a difference in someone’s life. He wants us to love someone radically despite their choices.
This takes work. It goes beyond quoting the bible, it takes face time with them. Time to listen and support them in their struggles. It is this work that makes a difference and makes the word of God come alive to them. Being willing to help the broken hearts, to listen in love, and to support them in the work to change their situations. It is more than hate the sin and love the sinner. It is pulling up you sleeves and working side by side with them. I can’t start by showing them more the reasons they are wrong for what is going on. I have to show them a way to find what is going to bring them to wholeness and closeness to God.
There is a difference between making a point and making a difference. It happens to pastors as well to those they seek to help. I can tell you how often I have been judged or condemned for my abilities to be a pastor the way some one would like to see it. And yet those very same people will never walk it out. They look to condemn and walk away. I thank God every night that His grace is renewed in me. I only hope to teach others to practice the same grace when working with those people they say they love and care for. People don’t want a list of things to change in their lives, they want someone to walk beside them while they are doing it the best they can.
See this is why I don’t stand up every week and preach the ills of the world. I pray each week (all week) to ask God what He would ask from me. How can I help? What can I do? You see I can make more change effectively when I listen to what God is asking me to teach or do than any man I have ever met. His words to me are always in love and drawing myself and others to a closer relationship with His son. He doesn’t ask me to present more about what I am against. He asks me to talk about more of the things I am for. Love, peace, dedication, service, self-discipline and the list goes on. However I am always reminded to speak life into those that come.
So next time someone comes to you, what will you do? Speak life so that they may have it more abundantly? Or tell them the list of all the things the bible would tell them not to do. It is your choice and perhaps a time to make a New one.
