We Need More Love

It's been a long time since I wrote a blog. I've decided it's time to fire it back up. My plans are not to write something everyday. That was probably my problem the last time I started blogging. It was too much pressure to come up with something all the time. Hence, I have decided to try to blog weekly. Not sure which day of the week it will come, but I'll try to be more consistent in the future. I grew up in a pretty legalistic church. We were told that we couldn't miss any services (that included Sunday morning, Sunday night, AND Wednesday nights) or we were sinning. See Hebrews 10:25. See, I told you we had a legalistic church. We had a book, chapter, and verse for everything. I don't know what it was that got me out of my rule-driven shell, and truth be told, I'm not completely out of it. But I would like to think I deal more in grace, especially more than I used to. The word we heard was the word "commitment." We were to be more committed. Commitment is what Jesus had. Commitment is what would drive us (drive is not too strong a word) in this world of following the rules. We heard "duty" often and we worked for our salvation. However, when Jesus was confronted with a lawyer asking what was the greatest command, Jesus did not reply "Be committed." Instead, he said we were to love God with everything we have. And he threw in a second one for good measure, "Love your neighbor as yourself. You see, duty drives us to more doing and less loving. The Pharisees did things right, but it was duty driven. Look where it got them. I'm convinced that we don't need more commitment. We need more love. Because love drives us to commitment. I used to preach commitment to people getting married. Don't misunderstand me, it's extremely important to be committed in a marriage relationship or any relationship for that matter. But forced commitment leads to anger and "have to" rather than "want to." It sounds so glib to say we need more love, but it's true. Until we understand what that looks like, we'll have a hard time understand what true commitment is. It's not intended to be a burden. Instead, love makes it light. After all, isn't that what Jesus said? Didn't He say His burden was light? Love truly is what makes the world go 'round. And we need more of it. In our churches, in our relationships, in our marriages, in our homes, everywhere. I hope your day is a blessed one. JW