I think that we live in a very interesting generation of Christ followers.
It seems apparent to me that the church as a whole has resorted to complete extremes- very few places seek out the balance taught in Scripture. And I can't say that I blame them; they see the extremes of other places, and try to compensate for them, usually resulting in overcompensation.
I'm going to be completely honest with you. I'm tired of "the church". I'm tired of people putting on faces. I'm tired of hearing the Word, but not doing it. I'm tired of the worship of the God of the universe having time constraints, and societal constraints, and looking more like either a concert or a funeral home. And I'm really tired of the church being referred to only as buildings. The church is me, the church is you. The church is the body functioning as a whole with one mind. The church should be the followers of Christ that take His life seriously, and take His teachings seriously, and seek to be His hand to the world that only sees Jesus on paper (and usually He's a lovely middle aged with man with brown hair and blue eyes... not quite the image that will relate to everyone). So, I want to be Jesus to the world. I want to take the love that He's given me, and share it with others who've never seen it before.
That being said, I find myself being unbalanced in some ways, and I want to change it. I say that I want to love everyone, and yet I can hardly love the people at my church. I can look at someone who is depressed, and love them, or a homeless man, and love him, or a teenage girl that doesn't think she's beautiful, and love her... because the weak one, the outcast, and the misfits are the people that I feel most called to. I always have. And yet, the snobby, rich old man that thinks the world owes him something- I can't love him. And the middle-aged women that gossip about the rest of the church body, I find I can't love them. The people that have been given all the love in the world, and yet return none of it to those that we should... I find it impossibly hard to love them. But the Bible doesn't say, "Love those that are easy for you to love"... it says to love even your enemies. Not put up with your enemies, not put on a face for your enemies. LOVE your enemies. Those are pretty strong words.
Romans 12:10 says, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
It says to meet the needs of your enemy. Speaking of love...
So, this has been the voice that God is whispering in my ear: how can you fully love the ones you say you love until you love the ones you are in community with?
Let's be real. We can't say we are true followers of Christ until we learn to love, and that doesn't mean loving those that are easy to love. It means everyone.
God, work in me a heart that loves those that are hard to love. Cultivate a sincerity in me that will melt their hearts and open their eyes to Your open arms.
