Is love safe?
Scripture says perfect love drives out fear, meaning that understanding God’s love frees you from the fear of hell and death. But I think the principle holds more broadly than that. To love is to acknowledge the human in the other. Like this guy did.
In that situation, most people would pick one of two responses.
1. They would get scared and hand over the cash.
2. They would get angry and kick his butt.
Neither option takes a second to look at the kid. All they see is a knife. Love takes the time to see our enemies for who they are, human beings, children of God. Was the guy’s reaction “safe”? No way. But maybe safety is overrated. Maybe love matters more.
3rd way? What are the other two?
Start out with a messed up system. We can take this for granted because we live in a system and it’s pretty clearly messed up. It could be funny to come up with an icon for evil, but I’m in a hurry, so you’ll have to use your imagination.
When faced with evil, we’ve got two big popular options. We can be active or passive, defiant or obedient. The warrior takes on evil. The monk endures evil. Both make logical sense. They’re predictable responses. If I invade your country, I can reasonably expect that some of you are going to take up arms to kick me out and some of you are just going to put up with it and wait for me to die.
Defiance feels great emotionally, but it might get you killed. Obedience doesn’t feel great emotionally, but you’ll probably save your neck and that feels pretty good too. But Even if you fight and win, you’re going to have to fight again. Even if you obey and the king dies, there’s just going to be a new king. Violence and victimization just give birth to more violence and victimization.
We need a third way. You might call it defiant obedience: walking the extra mile, turning the other cheek. It takes people by surprise. It feels bad emotionally and might get you killed, but it’s the only thing that might change the system for everyone else. If you win, you win your enemy. If you lose, you reveal your enemy. Salt and light.
If God loves me always, why did Jesus have to die?
“God does not need the cross to forgive us or love us. Jesus forgave and loved people before the cross. But some of us needed the cross to be able to really accept that forgiveness. God does not need the cross to love us: God has always loved us. But many of us needed the cross to really grasp that. God does not need the cross to be reconciled to us. But many of us needed the cross to be reconciled to Life, to break the cycle of rivalry and to heal our estranged authority image. The cross speaks to us at the point of our need. And while these are not God’s problems, but our alienation, still for us that alienation is very real. So to the one wracked with guilt God says through the cross, “I take the blame. I pay the price.” To the one who is locked in self-hate God says through the cross “I love you so much I would give my life defending you.” To the one in rebellion to life God says through the cross, “See me here. I am not a threat; I am love.”
-Derek Flood of sharktacos.com (full essay here)
If you’ve got the time, give it a read. It’s great stuff.
WARNING!
This is a journal. As in, personal opinions. As in, NOT the official stance of anybody but me. As in, NOT my final answer on anything. As in read at your own risk, your mileage may vary.
