My girls are in VBS this week. Their very first time being
old enough to participate and understand. It’s so cool to see my kids learning
about Jesus’ love, for real, on their own level, in a way that they can really
understand. They’re coming home every night chattering about Bible stories.
Punkin loves all the weird animals (she even got to help hold a really big
snake!) Maezie sings and dances her little heart out.
This week has been all about love (and weird animals!),
learning that Jesus loves us, no matter what. If we are different, if we’re
alone, if we’re scared, even if we do wrong, Jesus still loves us. This is what
my children are learning. This is what I want them to know and live and be. This
is good stuff. Basic Christian stuff.
But it’s got me thinking – Just how well do I understand, or
even live this idea of Jesus’ unconditional love? This is a concept I have
always had a hard time with. After all, God loves in ways I can’t even begin to
understand. This is hard, ya’ll. This is a big deal. This is something that
most of us don’t live out every day. It is completely contrary to our nature
and the opposite of everything we’ve been told, are being told.
We are telling our kids to love no matter what, and then
saying “I forgive them, but I won’t let them hurt me again.” Or, “I love them,
but I’m keeping my distance. They won’t do that to me a second time.”
Jesus told us to love our enemies, to BLESS those that curse
us. To turn the other cheek. Ouch. Do we even think about what that really
means? Doesn’t it mean that even though that jerk smacked me in the face I’m
supposed to pick myself right back up and let him do it again? And again and
again and again? 70 times 7, right? Where do we draw the line? Is there a line
to draw? After all, does God draw a line with us? How many times do we slap him
in the face, and yet he not only forgives, but forgets? Takes us in with
unconditional love that is so beyond our comprehension. It’s our first instinct
to think that if someone hurt us we need to protect ourselves from allowing
that to happen again. To say “You got me once, but no more.” In fact, we’re
told repeatedly by everyone around us that that is the mark of a strong person.
But what if it’s not?
Maybe it takes an even
stronger person to say, “I know you hurt me, but I’m still here. I love you and
I’m not moving.”
Because that’s what God does for us. Every single time. Over
and over again. And if that’s how he loves us, then isn’t that how we’re
supposed to love?
I don’t know about you, but this is not what I was taught.
There are people in my own family that I have been told were “toxic”, and to
limit my time or interaction with them. Really? Is that how we love them? And
this isn’t even our enemies.
This is our friends, our family.
People in our church.
This is a long shot
from loving our enemies.
We can’t even love each other.
This is not the love that Jesus taught in the gospels.
So how do we love like THAT? What exactly does that look
like?
It seems to me that it looks an awful lot like weakness.
Like letting ourselves get hurt over and over again, and going back for more.
Like letting someone “take advantage” of us, and giving them our cloak also.
I know, right?
That kind of love sounds like a crap deal on the giving end.
But seeing as how while Jesus was dying a horrific death on a cross, we were
all spitting in his face (and often still do), we owe him this at least.
To love like he did.
To keep going back for more.
To take the hits and
keep on going. Rocky Balboa kind of
love. Get back up. Take the hit. Keep on loving. Let them hit you again.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not about what they do
to us, but what we’ve done for Jesus.
I know this love thing goes a lot deeper, and that I’ve only
just scratched the surface, but it needs scratching, ya’ll. It does no good to
teach our children about Jesus’ love, and then live the opposite.
70 times 7 is an awful lot. I bet our cheeks will get really
sore. But please, please, PLEASE – when we feel like getting offended, getting
our feelings hurt, or even truly getting hurt, let’s remember that the Jesus
who DIED for you and me died for them, too, and that he wants us to love them
with the same fervor and depth that he does.
After all, we hurt Him just as often. And He keeps coming
back for more.
And that same love that we’re supposed to show to everyone
is what we can rest in when we’ve been hurt.
Over and over again.
And where we can go to get the strength to keep loving, even
though it’s completely against our nature.
And I know that right about now you’re thinking – “Wow, this
sounds an awful lot like you’re telling me to stay in an abusive situation and
just keep taking the beating. What about MY happiness? What about my safety?!”
But here’s the thing. God doesn’t promise us happiness.
Or success.
Or even safety.
But he does say things like “count it all joy when you are
persecuted because of me.”
He does promise us that we will be with him forever in his
kingdom.
And that’s our
ultimate goal.
Isn’t it?
Shouldn’t it be?
Not every one’s mission field is the deep dark jungle where
you might die at the hands of ruthless savages. Maybe those savages that we
need to love like Jesus are right here at home.
In our homes.
We tend to hold our earthly lives as sacred, when in fact,
they’re just a phase. This world is not my home. This body is not the beginning
and the end of me. The beginning and the end of me is Christ, and my home is with
him. We’ve been promised suffering on the road home. But we’ve also been
promised glory when we get there. If we’re too busy chasing comfort and safety
in this life, we are trading our reward for a pot of stew.
This “love” thing pretty much sucks.
And it’s pretty much the greatest thing in the universe.
