Dear John the Beloved,
I am not a fan of your writing. I do not like the way you just talk in circles- in fact, it frustrates me greatly. The amount of times you repeat a word is, frankly, unnecessary. Despite my reserve for your gospel, letters, and apocalyptic narrative, I have and am still learning much from you.
As I journeyed through your gospel I really saw that Jesus is the personification of love.
At the beginning of the year, I prayed and asked Holy Spirit to show me what 2016 will be about. One of the things he said was that this year was to be a year of learning love. It's startled me. It also frightened me. How is it that I can go out into the world and love people that I don't even know, and yet God is telling me that this will be a year of me learning love? Through this book, I have seen how much I lack in love. People often tell me that I love well, that I love with all of my heart, that I love with everything I am. And to some extent, I know this must be true because when I leave a place I know I am leaving a piece of my heart.
Jesus gives the disciples a new commandment. The commandment is to love one another. Sometimes I view love as whimsical and ludicrous, as something of the fairytales I read as a child and can still find in adult fiction. But that is not what love is. Love is power beyond anything else. It is the ability to see into the future, know the pain and still go through it anyway. Or, in missions, the ability to give it all to a child you know is dying, or being trafficked, or was ripped from their parents; love is the thing that heals and bleeds and breaks. It is the thing that let us rejoice when it is time to rejoice and weep without control for a friend sitting right next to us. That is not the stuff of fairytales, but the stuff of legacy and the life. It is radical. It is what Jesus gave us. Is is what the disciples fell headlong into. It is the thing that when someone looks at the cross they should be able to see without any hesitation, without any wondering, without any bemusement. If love were just a fantasy, or just some pretty idea, then why would Jesus die?
For so long, so many people have seen God as a God of wrath and anger, but that's not who he is. Jesus came into this world to show people that that is certainly not who he is. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ shows us that the Father's ultimate desire is to have a people for himself. To have a people who can come to him at any time and not worry about a sin they had committed five minutes prior. This is the God that made the world. The Creator who looked and said I want people who have different shapes and sizes and colors and didn't once think that any of them would not be beautiful. This is the God who created Adam and created Eve and made them for each other. This is the God who looked and said "yes you sinned, but I will still take care of you." This is the God I serve. This is the God of love.
As I'm on this journey to learn what love looks like, I often have to remind myself that looks like Jesus. It's kind of sad, in many ways, that I have to remind myself this, but at the same time I look at so many Christians today and I do not see it. I don't want to be one of those Christians. I want to be someone who loves radically. Who will go to the ends of the earth and say this is going to hurt in the end; it is going to take everything I have, but gives it anyway. And in many cases, all that I have to offer is myself. But really, is that not what we all want? Somebody to listen, somebody to hug, somebody to laugh with and somebody to cry with. Really, is not what we want the simplest form of love?
So John the Beloved, I thank you. (I still think you would benefit from a writing course.) You have propelled me forward on this love adventure.
I look forward to learning more from you.
Grace & peace,
M
I am not a fan of your writing. I do not like the way you just talk in circles- in fact, it frustrates me greatly. The amount of times you repeat a word is, frankly, unnecessary. Despite my reserve for your gospel, letters, and apocalyptic narrative, I have and am still learning much from you.
As I journeyed through your gospel I really saw that Jesus is the personification of love.
At the beginning of the year, I prayed and asked Holy Spirit to show me what 2016 will be about. One of the things he said was that this year was to be a year of learning love. It's startled me. It also frightened me. How is it that I can go out into the world and love people that I don't even know, and yet God is telling me that this will be a year of me learning love? Through this book, I have seen how much I lack in love. People often tell me that I love well, that I love with all of my heart, that I love with everything I am. And to some extent, I know this must be true because when I leave a place I know I am leaving a piece of my heart.
Jesus gives the disciples a new commandment. The commandment is to love one another. Sometimes I view love as whimsical and ludicrous, as something of the fairytales I read as a child and can still find in adult fiction. But that is not what love is. Love is power beyond anything else. It is the ability to see into the future, know the pain and still go through it anyway. Or, in missions, the ability to give it all to a child you know is dying, or being trafficked, or was ripped from their parents; love is the thing that heals and bleeds and breaks. It is the thing that let us rejoice when it is time to rejoice and weep without control for a friend sitting right next to us. That is not the stuff of fairytales, but the stuff of legacy and the life. It is radical. It is what Jesus gave us. Is is what the disciples fell headlong into. It is the thing that when someone looks at the cross they should be able to see without any hesitation, without any wondering, without any bemusement. If love were just a fantasy, or just some pretty idea, then why would Jesus die?
For so long, so many people have seen God as a God of wrath and anger, but that's not who he is. Jesus came into this world to show people that that is certainly not who he is. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ shows us that the Father's ultimate desire is to have a people for himself. To have a people who can come to him at any time and not worry about a sin they had committed five minutes prior. This is the God that made the world. The Creator who looked and said I want people who have different shapes and sizes and colors and didn't once think that any of them would not be beautiful. This is the God who created Adam and created Eve and made them for each other. This is the God who looked and said "yes you sinned, but I will still take care of you." This is the God I serve. This is the God of love.
As I'm on this journey to learn what love looks like, I often have to remind myself that looks like Jesus. It's kind of sad, in many ways, that I have to remind myself this, but at the same time I look at so many Christians today and I do not see it. I don't want to be one of those Christians. I want to be someone who loves radically. Who will go to the ends of the earth and say this is going to hurt in the end; it is going to take everything I have, but gives it anyway. And in many cases, all that I have to offer is myself. But really, is that not what we all want? Somebody to listen, somebody to hug, somebody to laugh with and somebody to cry with. Really, is not what we want the simplest form of love?
So John the Beloved, I thank you. (I still think you would benefit from a writing course.) You have propelled me forward on this love adventure.
I look forward to learning more from you.
Grace & peace,
M
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