Rant

Dear blog world,

Here is yet another thought or rant that I'm going to spew into cyberspace to my readership, which to my knowledge is one man who is often bewildered almost to the point of irritation by my writings, so I don't know why I do this.

I am no super-christian. I am not a great christ-follower. In fact, the more I get to know Christ, or what/who I think Christ to be the more I realize I know nothing, and sometimes even less than nothing. There is my disclaimer.

PS my thoughts are scattered today.

I have been thinking lately about what loving God means. I'm almost irritated. People do all sorts of nice things for other people in the name of loving God. I don't know about you, but if I was in a crisis and needed someone, and received help, I would feel their help was cheapened when I learned they were helping me "because they love God". Oh, great. I'm getting they're sacrifice, and it wasn't even for me, it was for someone else. I bet I could find a pagan in the world that has no knowledge of "God" and would help me because of their care for ME as an individual. I say this to say...that I think people confuse what the love of God is. I am saying this with full confidence in my heart: we do NOT love God more than we love people. We do not! Loving God EQUALS loving people. Love your neighbor as yourself was the answer Jesus gave in response to being asked what the greatest commandment is. There was one question: What is the greatest commandment? Not, "what are the TWO greatest commandments". Jesus felt that loving the people God created was just as important to mentioning that loving God is the most important commandment.

My bottom line is that WE are the portals to Christ in each others lives. I believe he physically and literally fills us with himself. We are his body. His real body. When we love each other we are loving Him, in the most literal sense. I'm so sick of hearing people say "I'm so in love with Jesus, I'm enthralled with God's love", and then seeing them be abrasive jerks to those around them. I'm not saying we can't have personal and spiritual experiences with the Spirit of God alone. But I think he is in more of what we do each day with each other, than anywhere else. I also think that an awareness of the literal existence of Christ and an acceptance of his sovereignty (which is commonly known as salvation) is NOT needed for Christ to work. I think that Jesus is in every act of selfless love, even if people don't know that he is. He is God after all, and he does love all people. Why should I be so small minded to think that he can't work ANYwhere? Love changes people, and "non saved" (whatever that means) people change lives all the time. Maybe salvation is one person being changed by the love and acceptance of an individual, and knowing the value of that experience, and genuinely wanting to "pay it forward".

So, I don't want to be the sacrifice of love you lay down on the altar to prove your allegiance to God. I want to be the mercy you're showing out of a changed life, knowing that your love for me could change mine.