Season of Love

Hello, friends. Have you ever noticed that you go through seasons in your life? For example, I went through a season in which running was the most important thing to me. During high school, cross country and track pretty much were my life. Then, in college, I went through a season in which the ability to be observant and perceptive became extremely important. In Tallahassee, meeting people was most important. I went out of my way to get to know people who were different from me.

I am currently in a season, here in Enid, in which loving others is most important. That's not to say that loving others wasn't always important to me -- it's simply to say that it is particularly important to me right now. I wrote about love in my last blog post. I've been talking about love in almost all of my children's messages to date. I emphasized love at our Friendsgiving youth event. Yesterday, I was at OK'D in Christ, the Oklahoma district high school youth gathering. I led a breakout session entitled, "How can you be a force for change at school?" Who wants to guess what I talked about?

When you're going to the Bible to research love, 1 Corinthians 13 might come to mind. However, I went to several passages from the book of John and the book of 1 John. Love is a topic that the apostle John is particularly fond of. He refers to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" in his Gospel, and he mentions variations of the word "love" 60 times in that book. Love is mentioned 35 times in 1 John, which has a whopping total of 5 chapters. Obviously, John has a lot to say about love.

I pointed out to the high schoolers in my session that Jesus loved us in very tangible ways. He sacrificed everything for us, not only through dying on the cross, but by becoming human and coming to earth in the first place. He ignored his own well-being in order to concentrate on ours. He also trusted his Father to take care of us. Instead of worrying about himself, he put everything in his Father's hands, focusing on us.

We are called to love in the same way that Jesus loves us. That's what 1 John 3:16 says. "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." Now, we probably won't love in exactly the same way that Jesus did. Very few of us will probably die on a cross. But we are called to sacrifice like Jesus did. We are called to put aside our own well-being to focus on the well-being of others. We are called to trust our Father to take care of us and focus on other people.

After we discussed this in our session, I asked the teenagers to think of scenarios that they encounter in school. Topics ranged from gossip to premarital sex to schoolwork to sports to abortion. I asked them this question: "How can you be a force for change, a force for love, in these situations?" We talked through some potential responses. Each time, I emphasized love in the situation. Sometimes I pressed them to see how a response might be loving to one person, but not to another. I tried to get them to a point where they could see how their responses could be a witness to their faith, not only to their character.

The basis for my talk was John 13:34-35. "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."

I would say that we as Christians have been pretty bad at showing love for one another. That's definitely not what Christians are known for today. I'd say it's the opposite: we are known for our hate. We expect all people to fall in line with our principles, whether or not they agree with them, and we can be vicious when they don't. That's something I do not understand. Why do we expect non-Christians to behave in Christian ways when we aren't even behaving in Christian ways? Why do we expect non-Christians to act in love when we don't even act in love?

Keep in mind, I'm being general here. I know many, many Christians who are loving people. But I know that I myself struggle to always act in love. I tend to judge on sight and not on what's inside, just as Samuel did (1 Samuel 16). I tend to put myself above other people while ignoring what I'm doing wrong, which Jesus warned against (Matthew 7). I sin in all sorts of ways. I sit in my DCE study and write about love, despite the fact that I am the least loving person of all. Move aside, Paul. I am the chief of sinners.

Here's what I propose, just as I proposed it to my high schoolers this weekend. First, let's remember how Jesus loved us. We always have to begin there, or nothing we do matters. Let's remember how Jesus loved us so much, so unconditionally, so sacrificially, that he gave up everything he had to save us. And with that love in our hearts and minds and spirits, let's go out into the world and make ourselves known by love, not hate. Let's show our faith by our works (James 2). Let's show the love of Christ through the love of Christians. Let's love others, friends. That's what it's all about. That's what matters. That's what we are called to do.