Malachi

The other day, I got a call from my sister, Jada. She was on a corporate retreat and they were playing a "treasure hunt" type game where the team is given clues and puzzles to figure out which lead to more clues. They were stumped and she called to tell me I was her "lifeline", or bonus call to an outside party for help. Their clue to the next location was, 'Before the 400 years of silence, this prophet gave instructions to the Israelites in the third chapter and 10th verse.' Well, that led us to Malachi, the last prophet before the time between the testaments. The verse reads, ' "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." ' (NIV)

My sister thanked me and we ended the phone conversation. I marvel sometimes at how God brings his word before us when we need to hear it. The verse was a reminder to me on several levels. First, on a personal level, I have been VERY busy lately. I am in a full time graduate program with a busy practicum seeing therapy clients. I am a student worker 20 hours a week, a GA 10 hours a week, I have a part time job on 12 hours a week and I have a photography hobby/business on the side. Did I mention that I'm married with three kids? :-) Point is, although I try to read my bible and I'm moderately active at church, my daily living has edged out my daily devotion. When I read that verse, it was a kick in my spiritual pants, a reminder about livin' like crazy. God was reminding me that although in comparison to other Christians, I might be living a devoted life, God's standard is much higher. He wants all of me, 100% of the time. It is possible to be living the life that I've been living recently and still keep God in my center, but I've really let it slide. It is no wonder I feel burnt out and stressed this week.

Second, God was not just reminding the Israelites (and, by proxy, me) that he requires much everything, but that he desires to pour out blessings on me as well. He calls us to trust him in this, to prove his faithfulness to keep his promises. he said he'd "throw open the storehouses of Heaven" and that it would be so much that there would not be enough room for it. How's that for loving like crazy?

John 10:10.

blessings,
jeff

Who did Jesus Hang out with?

Kudos to Google's search algorithims.... doing some more background for my sermon prep brought me to this excellent blog post:

Adoro te Devote : Who did Jesus hang out with?

Very well written. How did Jesus love like crazy? He loved personally... and he still does.

Check it out!

-jeff

Article Link

I've been asked to come preach at the church I first ministered at in Coleman, TX. I was the 'youth intern' for two years there, commuting back and forth from Abilene while I attended ACU. I'm looking forward to it for two reasons:
1) It will be wonderful to return and reconnect with friends
2) Because I've chosen to preach about Loving like Jesus (Loving like Crazy), I am going to force myself to think hard and to organize some of my thoughts about this. Hopefully, I'll have a sermon text to post next week.

In the meantime, I'd like to point you toward a post that informed some of my thinking about this subject. An excellent sermon that I found via web search at:

http://www.dovedalebaptist.co.uk/loving.htm

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

-LLC,
jeff

Real-life examples

I believe I'm on the way to being able to be Cross-eyed. By this I mean, being able to see people the way that Jesus looked on them. But, aside from some personal examples of people I've known, the person I feel most can relate to and recognize as most exemplifying this concept of Loving Like Crazy is : Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu . What a remarkable woman. You can follow the link to her Wikipedia entry, but let me highlight some facts from her life that stand out to me:

At age 12, she had already decided to become a missionary.
After 19 years of working with the poor and destitute, she started a congregation that would become the Missionaries of Charity, with the following mission: "to care for, in her own words, "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone."
In 1982, during the strife in Beirut, she brokered a cease-fire between Israeli and Palestinian troops, and navigated the war-torn streets along with some Red-Cross volunteers to rescue 37 children from a devastated hospital.

She was an amazing woman and I believe that she had the eyes of Christ. When she received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979, she said, ""Around the world, not only in the poor countries, but I found the poverty of the West so much more difficult to remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society - that poverty is so hurtable [sic] and so much, and I find that very difficult."

When I reflect on examples like Teresa of Calcutta, I am reminded of what Paul said, "Imitate me, even as I imitate Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1). I'm holding up Teresa only in that she exemplifies Christ-likeness.

I'll leave you with some quotes from this remarkable woman. In her life, she lived and acted and spoke in such a way as to draw us close to her beloved Jesus.

*Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.
* Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
* God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.
* I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.
*If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
* It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.
* Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.

Google Mother Teresa Quotes and spend some time in reflection.

Where does it start? Pt2

The other day I posted a blog about loving the unlovable and the concept of learning to love how Jesus loved. Today I want to talk about the attitude behind the actions. Loving isn't love if you don't mean it.

I think one of the ways that people get it wrong is to think that your motives don't matter. You have to go through the actions, but you don't have to really feel love for each other. I know that sometimes loving someone is a difficult task if you have to feel it, too. I can be kind and generous and patient and caring and hospitable and merciful and gracious without an ounce of love in my heart.

Do you know someone who is hard to love? Someone that you'd rather not be around? Someone who rubs you the wrong way? Someone who has poor hygiene? Someone who annoys you so much? These are people who it is hard to love. Christ doesn't call us to dedicate our lives to learning how to be bosom buddies with every other person in our lives, but he does call us to love one another. What is he talking about?

Listen to this passage from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 6 (NIV):
27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

How is it that we are expected to love like Jesus loved? A crazy, society-defying type of love...

I think it begins by learning to see with Jesus' eyes. How did he look at people? What did he see when he looked at them? When I see a panhandler on a street corner, I see a person who made some bad life decisions... or a person who is not willing to do some honest work... or a person who is most likely scamming honest people with falsehoods about being willing to work for food. What would Jesus see if he saw the same person? I think he saw a soul worth saving. I think Jesus saw a person he was willing to die to redeem from sin. I think Jesus counted that person worthy of being loved by the Creator God. How can I see less than that?

I call this process, "Learning to be Cross-eyed". Jesus knew he was going to suffer on the cross for me, for the panhandlers, for thieves, murderers, gossips, adulterers, liars and jerks. Yet, he was able to see past the cross. Can we see past the cross and count people worth of our love? I believe that when we can learn to see people with the eyes of Christ, we will be able to love them like Jesus loves them. We can love like crazy.

Where does it start?

At various times in my life, I've prayed that God would bring people into my life that would challenge me and give me an opportunity to exhibit the love of Christ in their lives, who might otherwise not know about Him. I began praying this prayer because although I loved my work in youth ministry, the majority of the kids in my youth group came from two-parent homes, stable families. They shared meals together, supported one another and were generally functional and happy. God blessed me with these kids and I hope I reciprocated in my relationships with them. However, sometimes I really wanted to be able to influence someone for God who didn't already have other people in their life already doing that. What I mean is, the church hired me to build on the foundation of faith that my youth group kids received from their families. I wanted the opportunity to help kids who didn't have that advantage get to know Christ.

This is one prayer that God always answered for me. These relationships became some of biggest challenges and biggest heartaches and some of my greatest joys. Going to church on Sunday and enjoying the fellowship of other believers and sharing the common Love of Christ that we have for one another, bearing one another's burdens, lifting one another up... these are all wonderful gifts. However, it is quite a special thing to give a taste of that unconditional love to someone who has no concept of being loved like that. I think that is what Christ gave to those people that mainstream society discounted. They were surprised by love. It caught them off guard. They'd been conditioned to not receive it from "normal people". It still happens today.

It is an easy thing to love someone who shares your values and loves you in a way you recognize and accept. Can I accomplish the difficult task of learning how to love the unloved?

How does one "Love like crazy"?

Christian music artists Chris Rice performs a song called, "Love like Crazy" which struck a chord (pun intended) with me.

In case you haven't heard the song, take a minute or three to enjoy the following video:
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In the song, Rice tells us that Jesus loves in a way that most of the world just doesn't understand. To the world, it seems crazy to reach out to the broken, the outcast, the unconventional, the untouchables. If change is going to happen, Rice says, it will happen when we love like Jesus loves.... crazy go nuts kind of love. Love when it doesn't make sense to love. We're not talking romantic love, but the kind of love that God has for all of us.

I have a lot of thoughts floating around in my head and my heart about love, but I don't want to belabor the point right now . . . instead, I'd like to try an experiment. Today is April 18, 2008. For the next 365 days, I am going to intentionally try to "love like crazy" each day. I'll try to blog about the experience. If I don't have a personal experience to write about, I'll try to point you to something inspiriational that reminds me of this type of love that I'm trying to live out in my life. Wish me luck. Pray for me. Join me on this journey for the next year.

I, Jeffrey Emery, pledge to be intentional about the way that I choose to think, act, and feel toward myself and others. I pledge to embody the concept of loving like Jesus loved. I promise to be diligent in sharing this experience on this blog.

Anyone care to come along for the ride?