Love (noun, verb)- Deep, enduring, passionate, emotional regard.
Did you know that in the Bible the word love is used 508 times? FIVE HUNDRED AND EIGHT. If people didn't notice the pattern, I don't know how many more times would help. In Matthew 22 its says that the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart. And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself". God gives us the most important thing in our life. He tells us what life is all about. Love. It's not about the logistics. It's not about the way she dresses or the way he talks. It's about God, you, and others. Love for God means you'll respect the laws He gave you, the 10 commandments. Love for others is a different thing completely. He didn't say to love your family. He didn't say to love your friends. He didn't say to love other Adventist. He didn't say to love people that think like us. He didn't say love the people who love us first. He said love your neighbor. Your neighbor is anyone you are "near", which is everyone you have in contact with.
Sometimes I want to go to the extreme. I want to sell my stuff, drop out of school, and go to Africa. I want to meet people, tell them about God, and help people who need it. What is the point of life if not to bring as many people close to God as possible. Sometimes it seems so useless to be in the American lifestyle. People learn in school to get a job. They get a job to get money. They get money to buy stuff. In 100 years, stuff will have no meaning. Things are just things, what can they do for you? Imagining a life where I wouldn't work to get money to get things is crazy. It's not what people do. Is it what God would want? I struggle with this because there are parts of the United States that need someone to share God's love more then in Tanzania. I could be so much more beneficial where I was and I didn't even know it. Why is it so hard to be a radical Christian? I could, right now, go out on the street and tell people that Jesus loves them and died for them. I could invite strangers to church. I could use all my money to buy Bibles and pass them out in the street. But I don't. What I want to know is why I don't. What stops me from being a radical Christian. I never have the urge to invite the cashier at Surangles to church. I don't plan on telling my bank teller that God loves him. What is the reason that is so hard for us? People have screamed the name of Jesus until they couldn't talk anymore. People have been burned alive for refusing to be silent.
It's scary to think about these things because I might actually do something about it. It's possible that as you read this, you're thinking that I'm crazy. You're saying to yourself "This girl is taking it a little too far. You can just minister where you are. What kind of person would say these kind of things?". It's possible that you disagree with every word I type. To say these things to myself makes them real. What would the people I know, the people that are reading this, think, if I never came home. What would people say if from Palau I kept moving around the world. They would call me crazy. "I can't believe she did that"! Though this is most likely not going to happen, I like to ask myself "why not?". I also like to remind myself of these moments whenever I can. I like to remind myself to live radically for God. What is sharing God's love? Telling people about it! Living out the life that God wants us to have. Life is too short not to love people.
Remember that every day when you give those kiddos a squeeze and smile, you are being a radical Christian. There are too many people in the world who don't know Jesus because they don't know Christians who are loving, kind, and genuinely concerned about them. Continue to be a person of love -- THAT is radical.
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