Love that Costs

I decided to name this blog "love that costs" because it has probably been the heaviest thing laying on my heart lately. It all started with a deep feeling of loneliness, where I was questioning if anybody truly loved me or appreciated me. Ministry a lot of times will put you in this place where you wonder such things. Everyone has something they could use you for, or you are only really valued for how well you serve. Needless to say, I felt a pull on my heart to find out what it looks like to be loved. While pondering this thought, I was struck with the question, "Do I really love anybody?” This challenged me because generally you do not ask people to do something that you are not already living out. Something the Pharisees did all the time by the way (Matt. 23:1-4). Have you ever really thought about what love really looks like? I'm not talking about the love where you are generally nicer to people, you share the candy on your desk, and you don't cut people off on the drive home. I'm talking about LOVE..."AGAPE!" Love that says that someone else is worth so much that you would literally die for them. That you would give all your belongings and comfortable living habits for someone in order that they may know the true love of God. That's radical love. That's "crazy love", a love that goes beyond the norms of being just a really nice person. Sure, you might be able to make a split decision to take a bullet for somebody, but could you suffer a long time for somebody, all for the sake that they may know Jesus, his work on the cross, and the power of his resurrection. This is the way Jesus loved, but EVEN MORE SO the way he called us to love others. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." (John 13:34). The idea that you should treat others, as you yourself want to be treated is not simply enough anymore because this kind of love has reserves. "I wouldn't naturally do this for you, so I don't expect you to do it for me," is what this says. Jesus goes a step farther and says that we should love in a way that cost us something, maybe even our life and expect nothing back. THIS kind of love is impossible apart from God. Our sinful flesh makes us so prone to be self-centered, self-serving, and self-righteous. We somehow are now deserving of things. "I worked hard for this, so I deserve it." or "This stuff here is mine but I'll share this less valuable stuff over here with you." This certainly wasn't the way God acted toward us. The triune God of this universe spoke over us, "Oh Child, I want you so bad that I am grieved over you and your sin. My eternal heart breaks over you. All I can do to redeem you from your lost, hopeless life of separation from Me is to give ALL that I have: my sinless, beloved son. But even though it pains me, you are worth it because you are MINE! OH CHILD YOU ARE MINE AND NOTHING WILL KEEP YOU FROM ME!" God gave the most valuable thing in the Universe, His only begotten Son, all that we may have eternal life. Jesus defines eternal life as knowing the only true God and the one whom He sent, Jesus Christ (John 17:3). Eternal life to God is being in a love-love relationship with Him, not just the shiny gold streets and mansions. Gold is representing our most valuable possessions as being so pale in comparison to God that we would walk on them as if they were asphalt, and Jesus going before us to His father's place to build us a mansion is a Hebrew picture of marriage, a covenant relationship. Eternal life is all about the covenant relationship with God, the only true God that will never leave us nor forsake us. The God that is always good, always just, always righteous, and full of love, peace, patience and kindness. The one that takes away all of our shame, guilt, worry, and anxiety and deals with it justly by putting it on Himself. But God doesn't just want us know reconciling love; he wants us to experience it, and live in it. He wants us to walk in love to the point that every step we are taking is an imitation of our Father's swagger (Eph. 5:1-2). Psalms 34:8 says "O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trust in him." That's experiencing God! Tasting and seeing! Louie Giglio posed me with this question at a recent conference I was blessed to be able to attend, "Are you fully alive and fully strengthened in God?” His thesis was that if we are fully alive and walking in God's strength, it's impossible for us not to give that Agape love to others. It's the idea that our identity should be so rooted in Jesus and his unfathomable love, that nothing in this world matters other than loving Him and those around us. When I say nothing, I truly mean nothing, including our house, our 401K, our car, our spouse, our children, our friends, our college degree, our job, and anything else you that can think up. The Agape kind of love starts with who we are in Jesus Christ and our ongoing relationship with Him. A friend of mine recently told me,” James, you can't do God's work with man's effort. It has to be God working through you, in order to accomplish God's work." Somehow, transformation has to come from within before it can go to those around us. This isn't an excuse not to love and to wait on transformation, but actually an excuse to begin radically loving. I find that its never really the accomplishing of a challenging goal or task that changes me, but the paths and experiences I had to go through to get me there that made the most substantial impact on my life. I have to begin to say, "Jesus, I love you, I trust you, and I'm going to take a step of faith, take a risk, and try and love somebody in a way that really cost me something. Please transform my heart and show me what it means to be loved, as I seek your face daily through it all." This is the issue that the Holy Spirit has been pressing on my heart and I tell you the truth in that it has really challenged my idea of a Christ-centered life. I'll continue to update this blog with the happenings in my life and this upcoming summer. Happy Reading!