"Be Loved, He Loves You"

I often have wondered why I stay up so late at night these days, and tonight, my pondering began to scratch the surface of where the answer may lie. The quiet solitude of being alone at night in my sanctuary has taught me a great deal about myself, about my life, and my relationship with Christ. It is at those times late at night that I can hear the silence of His voice. That I feel His breath next to my cheek. It is at this time that my heart becomes so still in order to gage His presence in my room. I do work all day, but it is at "this" time that my job and purpose for being on planet earth really matters. All of the texting, emailing, phone conversations, Facebook messaging, smoke signals that I receive  each and every night with all different kinds of people telling me about their life, their love, their heartaches, their chaos, and their God, I have found to be a major part of my purpose.... and I do believe with all of my heart that it's major part God's purpose for me.

There are people hurting everywhere.. next door.... at work.... on TV..... on the street, and across the world. Six times in the Gospels it repeats this phrase that Jesus said 
"Love your neighbor as yourself." 
Three times in the book of Matthew, twice in the book of Mark and once in the book of Luke. Jesus's entire life is a love story between himself and the diverse of all people, mostly outcasts and people that were literally invisible to the world at that time. He never stayed in places where it would be comfortable or where He was popular, He continued to move from place to place to touch as many lives as possible and share with them the "good news" that God had given Him to tell. But another thing He did besides speak, or heal was that He listened..... He listened to people's hearts and hurts. To their pain and sorrows. He allowed them to come close to Him, to touch Him so they might get a glimpse of what God was saying to them or had for them- a moment of to be near to someone that was close to God.

In John 14:12 Jesus says that whoever believes in Him will do the works that He has been doing, and they will do even greater things than these.... what on earth could be greater than healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, or raising someone from the dead as He did Lazarus? I think what He meant here was that we as Christ's followers would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to do anything that will give glory to His name. Whether it be to physically heal someone by praying over them faithfully, healing someone emotionally as in answering calls, texts and messages of friends that have a heart full of sickness and hurt.  Or if it is simply being present with someone without words but just the gesture of your presence shows them the unconditional love of God that they may not get from anyone else they know.

What are you investing in? What kinds of things does your life consist of that are everlasting- that are not "things" or material items, or "stuff". What do you have that is intangible that you can say without a doubt you can leave and it lives on after you're gone to tell your story. My greatest assets are my friends and just people in general. I encounter so many lives every single day that I have become "instinctly" aware that everything I say and do in the presence of this person acutely matters in life. And most importantly to me, it acutely matters to God. Once I realized this one simple truth, my attitude and attention towards people changed. Yes, I have always been a good person and some will say I'm a good friend- but that isn't what I am saying. I am saying that every encounter that I have with a person, no matter who they are, matters to me greatly. I want to know so many things concerning them, and I will attempt on the first meeting to draw them out to a point where I can see the essence of who they are and what they want and need in life. And eventually, of course, there is the matter of "do they know God". 

What does your time consist of each day? I know that work is important to ensure our financial well being, but do you take time to talk to others about their lives? The lives of their families? Do you stop and take interest in what is going on with someone else even though you are having a really hard day or week? Paul traveled all over to different countries and cultures getting thrown in jail for simply telling people his story, his encounter with Christ, but it did not stop him. Not many of us are evangelists, but we all have our own story of where we were once and how God made a change in our lives. He asks that we just tell our story. When we take time to do that, His story will be magnified as a light that is shining in a dark room.

So when I say to you "Be loved, He loves you..." I mean to say that we need to feel loved but we also need to go give it away to someone else- we can't just sit and get full of God's love and expect for everything to be good because we "have" it. We have to give it away... away to someone that is in need- financially, emotionally, or spiritually. Jesus said that the greatest commandments were to love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength, and to Love your neighbor as yourself. I feel confident that investing my time and my future legacy to the things of God is what He wants from me because people matter to God. They are His children and we are commanded to love them, serve them, and be in community with them.That includes all of their baggage, all of their faults, all of their "inconvenient interruptions" that we sometimes feel "burden" us. Who are we to compare ourselves to God who is the One that is the constant provider in our lives?

"Be loved, He loves you" is a song by Christy Knockels that I heard recently that marinates in my mind everyday. If you can be loved, and know that He truly loves you, the heavens will open and pour out such a flood of goodness and mercy on your life that you cannot help but be a blessing to all who encounter you. Matthew 5:3-12 lists the Beatitudes that state we are the supremely blessed and need to become a blessing to others. Can you imagine if every believer became a blessing to everyone they encountered?

Be loved, He loves you... Love others, He loves them too......