It's A Love Story by Bryan Craig
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1 ESV
During Easter a few weeks ago, as with all Easters, I heard many conversations surrounding whether people’s friends and family were going to go to Church on Easter. It is as if it is a demarcation line between believers and non-believers. We quickly form a judgmental opinion if someone would not go to church on Easter. Yet, if someone who never goes to church, but then, goes to church on Easter, it is a win for the Kingdom. I know much of this care and concern and conversation comes from a place of desiring those we love to know how much God loves them. We hope if we can get them into a church and they hear the Gospel preached, perhaps the Holy Spirit might touch them and change everything. It does happen sometimes.
I used to be like this, measuring people’s faith by whether or not they went to church. But I never took time to think about why people don’t want to go to church. It’s not just that they are sinners, for we are all sinners. Why do people do all the crazy things they do? Why do people live for the world? Why do people sin? Why do people hate? Why is there so much moral relativism? It’s easy to see so many lives living contrary to God’s Word and denouncing our Lord and feel negatively toward them. Years ago, a lady who worked with me said, “Why do we act surprised when lost people act like lost people?” It really stuck with me.
We were at dinner with a couple the other night and the wife was telling a bit of her faith story. She talked about the church in which she was raised, with many rules and expectations and legalism, and she said something that really hit my heart. She said, “It wasn’t a love story.”
Wow! A Love Story! Of course, the rest of her story was that she fell in love with Jesus years later, and it changed everything when she found her love story. It’s true. It is a Love Story. Abiding in Christ is about understanding how much He loves us and wants a relationship with us and then, we fall in love with Him, and we want to be with Him.
Yes, once we find our Love Story, we want to go to church because we want to worship Him. We want to be around others who share this Love. We want to serve others as an act of Love. We want to read our Bibles because it’s all about the One that we love. We want to pray because we want to talk to the One we love.
I’m sad to see so many people who would identify as “Christians” who don’t seem to really know Him. If they truly knew Him, they would love Him. They would want to spend time with Him. They would want to serve Him. They would want to worship Him. They would begin to live a life of love. But they have not yet found their Love Story.
So, let’s not stop inviting people to church, but before we do that, let’s try to show them the Father’s Love by loving them unconditionally. Let’s not make them feel like they have to meet our expectations for us to love them. Let’s stop raising our eyebrows or casting judgmental glances or whispering behind their backs. Let’s figure out how to love and serve others, even or especially, if they don’t seem to deserve it. They need to see what they are missing… God’s love.
It's amazing what happens when you do this. It may seem to go unnoticed or unappreciated or even cause ridicule, but if we can love like Jesus, who loved us to the very end, there comes a day when a family member or co-worker or neighbor or college friend finds themselves in a crisis. It could be a medical issue, or a financial problem or a marital devastation or a wayward child or whatever the case. But God has an amazing way of allowing difficulty to come into our lives, especially if we are loving the world, so that He can get our attention and help us realize we need Him.
When this happens, and it always happens eventually, guess who this person will reach out to? It’s their crazy Christian friend or family member who has always showed them love and who seems to have a peace that now they long for. Many times, this is the bridge that leads them to find their Love Story. And we get a chance to introduce them to Him.
How’s your Love Story? If you feel like it’s grown cold, perhaps you’ve let some distance grow in your relationship. The good news is that our loving Father is always there waiting on us to come back to Him. His arms are open wide. He loves you, and He wants you to discover this love so you can live a life of love. That’s what will change this world.