The greatest of these
I recently read something on Twitter that really caught my attention.
This quote is pretty well known, in fact I have even read it before. But it’s never really resonated with me so strongly before. Over the last year or so God has really been challenging me about loving people the way that Jesus would, about being intentional.
I saw a video this past weekend, posted online. It was footage from a Switchfoot concert.
Switchfoot: A Pop-Rock band made up of Christians who write positive, real, genuine music about love, war, and even God.
The band had been targeted by a group of religious extremist protesters. These men and women chose to camp outside of Switchfoot gigs, citing scriptures over megaphones, holding ‘turn-or-burn’ style placards, creating something of a distraction. And yet Jon Foreman, the frontman of the band, had the most inspiring response… one of Love.
See, Jon could have had a very different response. He could’ve pressed charges, got the law involved or even encouraged his fans to mob the protesters. Yet He didn’t. Click here to see what he did.
My favourite part of the clip is how easy he makes it look. Here is a clip that has pretty much gone viral, yet there is no song and dance, ‘blow-your-own-trumpet’ attitude from Jon, just a simple request from a man who understands that he has been bought by love, and that the currency of the Kingdom is love, that love is part of our inheritance.
Having been involved in youth ministry, I have seen that love can have another face. Sometimes it’s accepting someone, or not judging a person by the colour of their hair (#gingersarecooltoo), or including someone who is at church or youth for the first time. I think that this is just as much an action of love as Jon’s.
Whether it is an action of love that requires a little more courage, or a little more humanity, each one requires less of us. Less of us, and more of Jesus. I think that ironically enough the more we step out in an action of love, the easier it is to rely on Jesus. It’s almost an unlocking of what he’s put inside of us.
1 Corinthians 13 Talks about the prophecy, tongues, and the other gifts of the Spirit. It then goes on to detail the characteristics of love. Followed by the following statement; from verse 13:
Simple really… let’s not overcomplicate it, and live lives full of love. Because love is a verb.
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