The World Needs Love
The world seems to be caught up in chaos today with almost daily demonstrations of some sort. Violence is spreading. Fingers are being pointed at one another. Anger is being expressed and spilling over into the streets. Hearts and being broken. Lives are being destroyed by terrorism and hatred. This leaves us feeling helpless: What can we do?
Time to get your hands dirty and love someone else
In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) Jesus gives us the answer -- radical love. I say radical love because the word love is confused. I don't mean simply saying "I love you" to someone. Radical love is the kind of love that comes from Jesus Christ and is demonstrated through us to a hurting world. It is costly, risky, and bold. It means loving people who are different than you are. It means giving of yourself in some way to show kindness to another person. It means stepping outside of your own world for just a couple minutes in order to love someone else. It even means loving your enemies.
Right now the Church must love well. Love is what defines us as followers of Christ. It is who we are! This doesn't mean softening the Gospel message, but rather applying it to all of life. It means listening to the people around us in order to be able to share the hope we have in Christ with them. Jesus told us that the defining characteristic of a disciples of His is love. This is not optional!
The greatest example of this is Jesus Christ who died on the cross for all of us; people who have gone to great lengths to push Him away. We get into a mess because of our own rebellion and He still saves us. That's the kind of love Jesus offers. And now He looks at us and says "Go and do likewise." Are you ? Will you? What would happen if all of us chose to love today?
For more on the Good Samaritan, check out this week's message on our sermon page.