Do you put Jesus in a box? I used to. I thought I didn't, but I did. I am going to warn you, I am going to be real with you. So, lets get real!
Since I finished The Love Project with the book of Luke, I was sort of in a dry spot. I wondered why, after all that work, after all that research, why my heart felt the same. I knew I needed to love people more, I knew I was judgmental instead of loving, but it was as if, what I learned or thought I knew, it didn't penetrate my heart.
I have been praying constantly for God to show me how to love like He does. And funny, when God speaks to me, it takes multiple outlets for me to finally get it. I was reading His word, reading books, seeing things on Facebook about love, seeing things on Youtube about love. I get it! I have been changed in this past week and let me tell you, it is amazing. The freedom of love. Simple. Free.
My pastor at our church is showing us the importance of loving yourself in order to love your neighbor. For the verse says, "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30-31
Before when I would read this, I just thought it meant, treat your neighbor like you would want to be treated. Oh heavens no. This is so much more, so much deeper. Love. LOVE! We are created in God's image therefore, we need to love what He created. He created us! The way we are. Some of us are thin, some are heavy, some are tall, some are short, some are gifted speakers, while others stutter. We are all different, yet all in His image and He does not make mistakes.
Once you understand how much He loves you, He loves me, through our mistakes, our sins, then we can see how to love each other.
So this is where I ask the question, Do you put Jesus in a box? I laughed in church this morning because I have been talking to my husband about this very thing for a week now. How we, as American Christians tend to be all about what we are against. How it is important to vote and let everyone know who or what you are voting for or against. And here my pastor was saying the same thing. AMEN!
If a lesbian couple walked in the door of your church holding hands, what would you do? If a tall, thin, tattooed young man walked in with nose rings and spiked mo-hawk, what would you do? Do you make a stand in your business to say no, I wont sell to a gay couple, no, I wont sell to a transgender person. Is that what God would do? Is God not bigger than it all?
Who did Jesus hang out with? Did He say, "Look, you are sinning, straighten up and then we can hang?" NO!!! He didn't. He loved them. He loves us, no matter what our sin looks like.
If you are a married man and woman and you protest on your social outlets about how you vote against gay marriage, against transgendering, against etc....but you drink a lot of alcohol, how are you different? Maybe you don't drink but you look at pornography? Is your sin better than theirs?
I think it is about time we love. We treat people with love and respect. You don't know their circumstances, you don't know their past, you don't know them. PERIOD. Get to know them.
If you think heaven is going to be full of Christian neighborhoods, prim and proper, think again. If you think their wont be any people who were gay on earth, who were transgender, who were drug addicts, who were porn watchers, who were Muslim, think again. If that is what you think, you have Jesus in a box. He doesn't belong in a box. He is so much bigger! Yes, sin is sin and needs to be dealt with. That is God's job. We are called to love them. LOVE them!
I do realize some of you will not agree and some of you will quit reading, maybe even send me not so nice emails, but you know what, I am FOR GOD and God is for LOVE. So, I know what He is doing in my heart and I know I am called to love, LOVE everyone, not just some, but all!
