The Simplicity of Love

Sometimes I think we make everything way too complicated. It makes us feel smart. If things are too straightforward it probably means you're uneducated or a simpleton. Yet I find that life is often just that way.

Maybe we spout off grown up sayings like "as you get older things get complicated" to make room for our failures. Spread the gray paint around to cover up the neatly drawn lines. It's so easy to dismiss our moral compromises and steady withdrawal from the life God has called us to by deeming this situation "complicated."

Is everything simple? No. In fact, there are quite a few issues that leave me puzzled. As a person in ministry there are a few Biblical concepts and even attributes of God that I have a hard time understanding, much less explaining to another person.

But what I do know is there's a thread that is woven throughout our faith that holds everything together. It's the rudimentary tenet of Christianity, and its nuances and properties are so basic they can be detected by a young child.

I'm talking about love.

The foundation of who we are. The foundation of what we believe. So how do we get it so wrong?

My goal isn't to attack the Church and point fingers. This is more a personal issue I have. With myself. But I figured, hey, if I'm dealing with it, there's probably someone else out there who is too. Lately I've been doing a lot of thinking on the purpose of our church in our community. Not really just our church, but God's Church- in the world. And the best answer I can come up with is love.

But it seems so simple. How can love simply be the answer?

I went to Bible College. I learned how to read Greek. How to write a research paper in Turabian format. How to use tube tops to make sure my shirts were long enough that I wouldn't show skin while getting my praise on (Hallelujah). Good stuff. But I wish more Bible Colleges taught that love is the be all end all of your ministry. You can preach until your face is blue. You can produce inspirational videos that make Rob Bell jealous. You lead worship with a voice that has the gruffness of Mac Powell, the coolness of David Crowder, and the I'm-gonna-win-a-Dove-award-even-if-I-didn't-have-an-album-this-year-ness of Chris Tomlin. It doesn't matter.

If you can't love your people, you are wasting everyone's time.

Strong words, Elizabeth. I know. But it's true.

Listen, I've wasted a lot of times perfecting my singing voice and polishing off my church programming. I know my ABC's of mediocre ministry. Trust me: there's no high soprano harmony (albeit mighty Beyonce of me), no powerpoint presentation (even with the fading text), no Children's Vacation Bible School that's going to make a lick of difference without love.

It's that simple.

If you can forget about everything else you're doing, and focus solely on love, I guarantee everything else will fall in place. Ok, I'm trying this right now. So maybe I shouldn't guarantee it yet, but I'm pretty sure it will.

I love how Paul says it:

"For the commandments against adultery and murder and stealing and coveting—and any other commandment—are all summed up in this one commandment: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Love does no wrong to anyone, so love satisfies all of God's requirements.
Romans 13:9&10

The NIV says that "love is the fulfillment of the law."

Love is. When you love, you won't wrong your neighbor. You won't sin against them. Because you are thinking of their best interests instead of your own.

Bob Dylan's got it right when he sings "May you always do for others, and let others do for you." If we're all looking out for each others' best interests, then we'll be covered.

So what does loving look like?

What does Christ's bride, the Church, look like when it is rooted and grounded in God's love?

What areas of your life could use the influence of love?

For me, love means I need to work harder at looking past people's faults. Past the little things about people that aren't moral failures, they're just ticks that really. annoy. me. I need to focus more on the value of that person. Even if they never stop talking. Or make weird mouth noises when I talk to them. Love means realizing that I have some annoying flaws, too. Maybe. Not really.

Love means leaving the judgment behind. Changing my first thoughts when I hear that someone needs help from "What could they have done differently to keep themselves out of this mess?" to "What can I do to help my brother/sister out of this mess?" When did I start thinking that people shouldn't be helped because they've messed up?

Father, forgive me. I too, am a failure. A sinner. How have I started thinking of myself as any better? It's only because of Your righteousness that I am made whole.

Love means I start to see every person the way God sees them. To see the value in every person. The heart of every person. The brokenness of every person. So my heart will break for them. So my soul will yearn for them to have reconciliation with the One who knit them together in their mother's womb.

Oh, that my heart would break for what breaks the Father's heart.

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
1 Corinthians 13:1-7
The Message

What does your love look like?

What should it look like?