Love (Baby Don't Hurt Me) Part 1

"Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold..."
(Matthew 24:12a) 

"Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold." (Matt. 24:12a) This is a verse many of us have probably heard before...and like many verses in scripture, it deals with the state of the heart of man. What does it mean to have a "cold heart" exactly? What is love? Why is there such a problem with matters of the heart? 

I felt God speaking to me this week about love. So much, in fact, that I know I will fall short of trying to convey it all, but will attempt it nonetheless in this, a first of a series of blog posts on the topic. The Lord reminded me that of the three most essential gifts we have been given (faith, hope, and love) that the GREATEST gift of all is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13). It sounds super cheesy, I know, to think of love as not just a gift but the greatest gift. But why? Why does it seem cliche? 

Well, I have to think that true, real, unadulterated love isn't seen that often in our modern, enlightened society. Forget all the "chick flicks," the 50 Shades of Crap, er I mean, Gray, forget the Harlequin novels, the puppy love sappy metaphors and memes (seriously, if you post those on social media...just...spare us all, really), forget it all. Toss it out the window, because none of those things is love. Not really. A dim reflection? Probably. So what is love anyway?  

This came to your mind too? Yeah, I got sidetracked as well. 

I truly believe that human beings can't even define what love really is. Fortunately, God did it for us. According to Him, love is the following: patient, kind, not proud, not envious, not selfish, doesn't get angry easily, doesn't keep a record of someone's screw-ups, never is happy when something bad happens to someone we don't like, always is happy about the truth being told, always protects, never neglectful, always has an expectation for something good to happen, and never gives up even when the going gets tough. (1 Cor. 13:4-7, heavily paraphrased by me).

Wow...so basically reading that, I learned that I really suck at this whole "love" thing. I may do 2 or 3 of those things in the list of what God defines as "love" decently, and that's on a good day. And I do the exact opposite of most of these. Good thing that the number one attribute of love is patience...because I am quite sure God must have lots of patience with me!  

I know what you might be thinking..."Oh but Brooke...we aren't all so bad!" Sure, we see and even participate in fleeting moments of love---a newborn baby sleeping in his mother's arms, a father embracing his daughter, an elderly man fishing with his grandson, a stranger helping someone else in need, a wedding ceremony where we witness couples reciting their vows, tears being shed for injustice. The truth of the matter is, all of us fail miserably at conveying love on a regular basis. And the darker our world becomes, we see true love less and less it seems. Why else is the news full of stories about violence, death, hate, rape, inequality, yada yada yada?

Worst of all, for those of you reading who happen to be Christ-ians (aka "Christ followers")? Me and you? Yeah, we are the official worst at showing love than anyone else in the world. Don't believe me? Then why is it common knowledge that we are the WORST tip-givers to food service workers, the LEAST ethical business owners, complain the MOST about the needy and those on welfare systems, and spew EXORBITANT amounts of hate with our actions and words than any other group? Why are we the cynics? Why are we the laziest? Why are we the cruelest? I hate to be the one to break it to you...but we are very poor reflections of what we claim to represent. 

And that should bother us. And by bother us, I don't mean in a "oh I ate some bad salsa last night and now I have indigestion" kind of way either. I mean, this should be keeping us up at night. This should be spoken about from our pulpits. This should be the topic of conversation on our lunch breaks. This should wreak absolute havoc on our collective sensitive little Christian consciences. Bless our tender little hearts!  This should cause each and every one of us to flood the alters with our tears and rub our knees raw in prayer.

Guys...we're doing it all wrong. The ONE most important thing...and we're screwing it up royally. We had one job to do (insert meme) and we're failing. We've got to get this right. We've got to start now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Right now. We've got to ask God to break our hearts for what breaks His. 

If you my friend are reading this, and you're not a Christian, I thank you for your patience with me in getting to my long and drawn out point. Chances are, you have met someone who said they were a Christian and they hurt you. They betrayed you, they lied about you, they rejected you. Maybe they used you, cursed you, cheated you, abused you, threw you away like you were nothing, walked away from you when you needed them most, made you angry, maybe even made you hate them and their so-called-God. 

Can I, on their behalf, sincerely and truly apologize? I'm sorry they (I) let you down, mistreated you, did all of the above and more that I didn't even name. It was wrong. I was wrong. There is no justification. Nothing I could ever say would make it right. I'm not here to convince you of anything other than the fact that we are supposed to be different. And for not being different...for not being all the definition of what love is and what Jesus said we should be known for? That is our greatest crime. That is our chiefest sin. 

And for all of those things I ask your forgiveness. I promise you can call me out when I'm wrong and I will welcome it. I promise to do all I can to be a better representation of the God who loves you desperately. I promise when I say I am praying for you that I really and truly take time to do it on the spot. I promise to be transparent with my struggles and my vices. I promise to be as much like Him as I know how, because that's the Jesus you deserve to see. 

And if you're a Christian reading this and you're angry...good. If you're convicted...good. If you're complacent...consider my drawn-out ramblings with an unbiased mind and heart and together let's change. Not for ourselves, but for others. The world is sick and dying and hurting and we can't just sit by and do nothing about it.