Love

I have been reading a book called "Blue Like Jazz"... no it is not about music... rather it is an eye opening book about Christianity and Spirituality from the perspective of a man from the Northwest. I have found myself bursting into laughter, sobered by conviction, and shaken to a new reality of how Christians can be perceived.
In one of the more recent chapters I have been reading, the man joined a church that was in the beginning stages of a church plant. There were about 10-15 people attending at that point and they met each week for worship and prayer, expecting the new members to just show up in droves. This was not the reality that they experienced. During one of the worship and prayer nights a challenge was put out there. Everyone was asked to love on someone that week just for the sake of showing them love, not to preach to them or to bring them to church, but just to love on them. They were challenged to love on someone that was different than them. Someone not in their regular circle or sphere of influence. It was a challenge that everyone committed to. As they loved... they saw people coming to church, they saw people being transformed because they had not seen love from a church like they experienced through them.
It is powerful when God calls us to love. I have felt challenged to love more too. It is our responsibility as "the church" to show people what love is. The world is truly polluting and contorting the definition of love. Lets stand up for love and bring it back to the standard that it was given when God first created love. How can you share the love this week? Today? I challenge you, and me, to love someone this week for the sake of loving. Love on!