Exceeding the Limits of Love

One of the things people often share whenever they return home from another country is, "You really appreciate the things you have here at home." You return home from places like Africa, or Central America, or even other parts of this country, and you feel so blessed to have the gifts that you have. We don't have to live off a dollar a day. We don't have to go days without food or water. We are not exposed to some of the medical conditions that other places are exposed to. We truly are a blessed people.

But what do we do about those places that we visited? What do we do about the places that we hear about on the news or see pictures of? How quickly these images escape our minds whenever we get back into the routines of American life. We get busy and, well, we forget about them.

I have been wrestling in Scripture lately, wondering where to draw the line. As I turn the pages, I can't help but find verses regarding loving people and serving them. You have passages such as loving your enemies (Lk. 6:27) or loving the lepers (Mt. 8:1-3). You have passages talking about speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves (Pr. 31:8) and passages about loving widows and orphans (Ja. 1:27). You have God, Himself, who so loved the world (Jn. 3:16), and you have His Son telling us that we would be recognized as His disciples by our love (Jn. 13:35). All over the place, all you can see is love!

But where do you draw the line? I am not talking about drawing the line as to who we should love and when we should love. But I am asking how much should we love? To what extremity should we love?

Each time I read Scripture, I feel convicted because I recognize that my love is not at the level of God's love. He loved the world in such a way that He gave everything He had, namely Himself, and He went to the cross to die for us. That brings us to another love passage (Jn. 15:13). But are we really supposed to go to that length? Are we really supposed to love people to that extremity?

I recently read a book called "Radical" which has the theme of "taking back your faith from the American dream". In the book, author David Platt presents many different challenges, but one of the chapters that got me the most was labeled "American Wealth and a World of Poverty." I am not sure that anything was said in that chapter that necessarily stood out to me, other than the fact that I felt like I was looking at this list of all these people we are called to love and saw that I was doing a pretty poor job. I have been ministering among college students and athletes for a while. I have served among the homeless and I have even stepped out of my comfort zone to obey the Great Commission and go overseas a few times. But what about the other people we are called to love? Are we supposed to just fulfill a few of our duties and then let someone else love the rest? Or are we supposed to radically love everyone?

One Sunday morning as I was pondering this in my mind, I began thinking about the orphans of the world. Millions of kids all over the globe are orphans and many live off less than a dollar a day. As I quoted earlier, James 1:27 specifically talks about loving the orphans. What are we supposed to do with that passage? Are we supposed to obey it or should we just glance over it and hope someone else comes behind us and obeys it?

I wrestled with the thought of, "Are we supposed to love the world as a church, with each of us loving a particular people and then in whole, we love everyone?" or "Are we just commanded to love everyone individually and then as a church it is just intense love all the time?" I think that when you look at those two ideas, it is easy to identify the latter as correct.

That morning, I found that one way we can love the orphans and serve them is through supporting a kid through Compassion International. But as I recognized that, I began trying to justify myself. In my mind, I began wrestling with the idea, telling God, "I want to support a kid, but I really don't have money for that." He responded by implanting the thought, "It only takes 6 hours a week at minimum wage to support a kid for a month." (That is after taxes by the way). I then responded with the thought, "But I don't have a job. And nobody will hire me around my busy schedule. There is no way that is possible."

That was Sunday. Three days later, on Wednesday, it was possible. I passed by the student-athlete department and lo and behold, they are hiring tutors. After talking with them for just a few minutes, a schedule was made and work began on Friday, working around my schedule perfectly. This time I couldn't justify myself. God had put it on my heart to love and He had provided me the means to do so, now I had to obey.

Earlier this week I filled out the form, submitted the payment, and was given a 10 year-old boy from Indonesia named Kevin. More details will follow in the upcoming weeks and his information packet and contact information will come in the mail.

I guess the lesson I learned is that there is no limits to love. We are called to love everyone and if we don't have the means to love a certain person or a certain group, ask the LORD and He will provide it. I want to not just be a hearer of the Word, when I pass over passages on love, but I also want to be a doer. I want to be one characterized by love and I want people to recognize me as His disciple because of my love, rather, His love shining through me.

In closing, I want to challenge you to exceed your limits of love. Maybe God is calling you to join me in loving the orphans. Or maybe He is calling you to love someone else. But I want to share one line with you that appears on page 123 in the book Radical:

"I wonder at some points if I'm being irresponsible or unwise (about my money and possessions). But then I realize that there is never going to come a day when I stand before God and He looks at me and says, 'I wish you would have kept more for yourself.' I'm confident that God will take care of me."