After spending yesterday [Monday] resting & recuperating from 6 days of “go”, I kicked off my Tuesday by reading a devotion with my family, dropping my oldest off at the High School, & then sitting on the front patio reading the Scriptures…a good start to what I anticipate to be a great day! Â Next, I opened my e-mail, ready to dive in to hours of thinking, praying, planning, and knocking things off of my “to-do” list…you know, IMPORTANT things đ Â While mentally organizing those “to-do’s” and mapping my day, I came across an e-mail from a friend [one of those who’s a part of the growing community of SummitLIFE], reflecting on this past Sunday’s gathering:
“I came from a church with a lot of rules and it is very freeing to know that LOVE is most important.”
I’m hoping that this statement might help/encourage each of you, as it has me…that we might not forget that which is MOST IMPORTANT.
“MOST IMPORTANT of all, continue to show deep LOVE for each other, for LOVE covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).”
Some of you can stop reading right there…memorize…meditate…consider your day (your life?) and adjust accordingly.  Others of you may choose to continue reading this excerpt from a 2005 post on The UnChurch, a blog that I used to author:
JESUS CAME LOVING…WE SHOULD GO LOVING.
It seems that church leaders are finally beginning to realize that in order to “reach the lost” they’re going to have to get outside of the church walls and make their way into the community that surrounds them. Going, going, gone are the days of “if you build it they will come.” Having come to this realization, churches all over are starting to put together all sorts of “outreach” events and ministries in an effort to “reach the lost”: festivals in the community, taking food to the community, cleanup projects in the community, pet grooming for FREE for the community (is this really happening?)…you get the point. These are all GREAT things. These are all things that SHOULD BE HAPPENING (pet grooming is optional). I don’t have a problem with any of these things…the problem, I believe, is motive.
“Motive?” you ask. Yes, motive. If I understand the Scriptures correctly, we’re called to love God with all that we’ve got and to love our neighbor as ourself. Along with that, we’re called to go and make disciples (i.e. followers of us as we follow Christ…resulting in Christ followers). Despite what we’ve been taught, we’re not called to “save” people…Jesus did that work. We are, however, called to love. The real reason that we should be doing these things for people is because we truly love them. Not to “love them into the Kingdom”, but simply to love them for LOVE’S sake. There need be no hidden agenda here, just love.
Let me try to clarify with a few examples:
“The only way we’re going to get them in here (the church building) is if we go out there (outside of the church building) and show them that we love them.”
Motive: Get them in here…
Method: Go out and love…
That isn’t true love…that’s love with an agenda…our agenda. We should just love.
“We’ve got to love them into the Kingdom.”
Motive: Get ’em “saved”…
Method: Love…
That isn’t true love…that’s love with an agenda…our agenda. We should just love.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for people following Christ, but that’s not why we should love them. I’m all for people realizing Christ’s saving work, but that’s not why we should love them. I’m all for filling church buildings to overflowing with people that want to follow hard after Christ, but that’s not why we should love them. To love them for any of those reasons wouldn’t be love at all. Real love loves without agenda, without motive. It doesn’t expect to be loved back…it just can’t help itself…it IS love. LOVE.
JESUS CAME LOVING…WE SHOULD GO LOVING.Â
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