The chapter I just finished was about love. Recently this has been something I've been struggling with, loving everyone I come in contact with. Not just surface love, but genuine, God-breathed love. Do you know how hard that is? I've realized how easy it is to hold grudges (just a side note). Anyways, the author began to talk about the idea of relationships through metaphors. Some listed were that we "value" people, we "invest" in people, relationships have the possibility to be "bankrupt," and that people are "priceless." Do you see any commonalities in those metaphors? How about economics? From our viewpoints, we see relationships as being economically based without even knowing we do this. In the words of Donald Miller, "With love, we withheld affirmation from the people who did not agree with us, but we lavishly financed the ones who did." It is so incredibly wrong to treat people, relationships, and love as banks. Miller also says "When the church does not love its enemies, it fules their rage. It makes them hate us more." How true is that? The church today is hated, for the most part. Ask anyone on the streets what they think of Christians and I can almost guarantee you that 8 times out of 10, you're going to hear a negative answer. The book explains that when a person feels that you don't like him or her, they won't listen to you. So what are we doing to show people that we love them, that we do like them?
I'm not writing all of this claiming that this is where I'm coming from and that I've thought this all along... far from it. It was such a revalation to me. My eyes were opened to the way that I treat people, the fact that I am obvious with who I care about and who I don't. And this needs to change.
When talking to someone, there are always two conversations going on. There is the conversation on the surface, the one that highlights the words actually being spoken, the topic being discussed. Then there is the deeper conversation, the one coming from the heart, addressing whether or not we like the person we are conversing with. If both of these levels of conversation are not coming from God, they are not true. In the Bible (and if anyone knows where this comes from pleases let me know), it says that if you're talking to someone with your mouth and your heart does not love them, that you are like a person standing there smashing two symbals together.
I will strive to not be a one man band, slamming cymbals and creating horrible noise. I cannot promise anything but to do my best to have God work through me, and love each person come in contact with. Maybe you could call me a modern-day hippie.
Thanks to Donald Miller for the thoughts presented in this blog.
