The other night I had a beautiful opportunity to watch the Furious Love documentary with some wonderful women of the Lord. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it out:
This truly challenged me to delve further into the truth of what Jesus’ love looks like, what ministry is. The Church has become great at gathering money, going on a mission trip once a year or so, and embracing roles of ‘ministry.’ While I’m not condemning these things, I do believe the heart of the Gospel message goes so much deeper than this. Heidi Baker says, “Ministry, however, is simply about loving the person in front of you. It’s about stopping for the one and being the very fragrance of Jesus to a lost and dying world...ministry is simply you loving like Jesus.” I wonder what the world would look like if the Church truly stopped all of the judging and saving face; thought that may sound harsh, I always recall what Mother Teresa said: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
Tonight I had such an opportunity to decide whether to love or to judge. After going out to a late dinner, some new friends and I returned to campus around midnight. A homeless man came asking for money to buy medicines; after many brutal assaults, he was left with damaged lungs, kidneys, and spleen. He showed us gun shot scars, knife scars, and even deeper---spiritual scars. We began to pray over him and God overwhelmed me with His heart for Mike. God’s yearning was so incredibly desperate for His child, to see him made whole, to surrender to the embrace of His Father’s arms, to see the chains of bondage fall off as His Spirit surrounded him. I hugged Mike, who to most in our society would appear to be an untouchable. In most cases, fear rules, whispering, “He’s probably on drugs. He’s probably a thief. Look, he admitted to being in jail! He’s using you.” But no, LOVE FIGHTS BACK. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Love Himself whispers with conviction and peace, “This is my son, whom I love. I died and rose again that he might have abundant life. Love him as I do, hold him physically as I do spiritually, speak my Truth into his spirit. He’s being tormented, and I have called him to a life of freedom and relationship with me. Be vessels of my Love, pour into Him. I am mighty to save! I am Jehovah Jireh! I am Abba, sweet Abba. Love him, for I long to see him come to Me and be made new, be made whole.”
Mother Teresa also said, “Jesus found me and chose me. A strong vocation is based on being possessed by Christ. He is the Life that I want to live. He is the Light that I want to radiate. He is the Love with which I want to love. He is the Joy that I want to share. He is the Peace that I want to sow. Jesus is everything to me. Without Him, I can do nothing.” When we come to an understanding of God’s love for us, we cannot help but want to embody that Love and exude it to those we encounter. The very Spirit of Love dwells within us. Bob Goff said, “Love isn’t as risky as apathy.” When we truly begin to abide in the depths of God’s heart and in the fullness of His love, apathy won’t even be in our vocabulary. Love will be the very overflow of our hearts.
Something that truly struck me in Furious Love was that Darren Wilson spoke of not having an agenda to ‘convert’ someone, but simply to love them. Imagine if Jesus had said to those whom He healed, “I’ll heal you, but only if you repent and receive God first.” No, Jesus’ love is the very vehicle by which people are drawn into the love of God. Shane Claiborne sums it up perfectly: "But what had lasting significance were not the miracles themselves but Jesus' love. Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, and a few years later, Lazarus died again. Jesus healed the sick, but eventually caught some other disease. He fed the ten thousands, and the next day they were hungry again. But we remember his love. It wasn't that Jesus healed a leper but that he touched a leper, because no one touched lepers." Jesus sought out the untouchables of society, those who were lost and hurting and broken and messy. He rebuked the spirit of religion and the spirit of apathy. He taught radical love, extravagant sacrifice, and merciful understanding.
I’m sure Mike valued our money, food, and drink, but I know what really impacted him was Christ’s love. Why? Because as Mike walked away from us, he said, “I’m going to go with a spirit of joy, because 5 people stopped and cared. God I hope they always care for me.” Wake up, Body---that’s what the world is crying to us! CARE! LOVE! 1 John 2:6 says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” God is love. Jesus in the manifestation of God’s love.
Love fights back.
Love wins.
“But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’” Matthew 9:36-38
“And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Ephesians 5:2
There is no such thing as a lukewarm Lover.
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