the refusal to love unconditionally: love with caveats is not love.
Whatever else believers are known for: they are not generally known for their distinctive love: rarely are people drawn to the conclusion that Jesus is Lord simply because of the radical and God-like love they see in action and experience from believers: so we will not position ourselves as judge: but instead: love others as we have been loved: or we would be hypocrites right? And hypocritical behavior smells bad: if God is love: we can’t be hate: or adopt a disinterested posture: or condemn: or pass judgment: yet these attitudes of mind and heart seem to be ever present in professed believers who make zero allowances for other folks shortcomings: while managing the near impossible: seeing the speck in the eye of the person ‘under judgment’ and missing the lumber yard or all lumber yards in their own eye.
So unconditional love is not a feeling one has: or a commitment one makes: but a stance one takes toward another: this love is an activity one does and then becomes: even when the ‘other’ is your enemy rather than your friend: you still choose to live in a purposed forward leaning mindset: offering unconditional love: maybe that’s a hard one to take on board: you may have experienced many loveless acts aimed in your direction: forgiving individuals is hard, but would seem also to be necessary: mastering emotions is difficult, but necessary: don’t let your thoughts and responses about what has been done to you in the past take up bitter root in your life: I know that this is easy to say and very hard to do: but we must all work at letting go of our destructive thought patterns: and become what we were made to become in the first place: and you were made to become the person Jesus had in mind before this world in all it’s rampant beauty and in all it’s rampant ugliness got its hooks in you: beauty is for keeping: ugliness: while too often present: and more often than not wrapped up in a certain smothering type of passive-aggressive 'niceness': is for leaving behind.
Jesus can set you free in His unconditional love: and then you in turn can enable others by passing on your story: we were not made to live doomed lives of quiet desperation: even if it sometimes feels that way: Reach out: He’ll be there: but be serious in the reaching out: in the seeking: in the searching: for this is not a game: it is something far more serious: life
Ghandi saw through the professed christian believers he knew: and he was not impressed: he applauded christian principles: but not christians: over the centuries this dismal orthodox record stands as an embarrassment for all the world to see: it’s time for distinct and rapid change: one in which christian principles: doctrine: arguments of the minutiae of theology and hot button issues take their proper place: at the back: Jesus is pre-eminent: all the ‘stuff’ about Him has it’s place in the dialog: but when the dialog about the ‘stuff’ of faith is in danger of pushing Jesus aside: it’s time to right the ship: it’s about Jesus: not ‘stuff’.
So our goal should be something akin to the following: to rediscover relationship with Jesus & with each other that can return us to a state where we don’t live by our own knowledge of good & evil: for we are not God: but instead live life by participating in the very same love that the Father, Son & spirit have shared throughout eternity: we are participants in the divine: we are participants in His plan to restore & redeem the world one soul at a time: we are participants in His perpetual world revolution: Jesus went far deeper than we fully understand: although there are folks out there in christendom who talk in rather loud and vulgar voices telling you that they have it all nailed down: they don't: Jesus did both covert and overt operations: touching the deep roots of our human dilemma by fulfilling the role of suffering servant & showing us the root of our problem: the refusal to love unconditionally: love with caveats is not love.
Jesus prayed that His disciples would be as one: just as He and His Father are one: loving oneness should be a clear and present reality in an organic body of believers: love that encourages and enables us all to sit: to walk and to stand in His victory already won: reflecting and participating in the loving oneness of the Trinity becomes a very real possibility for all of us who are persuaded that Jesus is able to keep that which we have committed to Him until the final day: our lives: remembering all the while that love with caveats is not love.
Engaging in dialog driven by both a relational and familial culture: underpinned by unconditional love for all begins to encourage all present to take part: the lack of pretence and affectation in the relationships present enable the dialog: that in turn enables growth and a better understanding of oneself and others: it’s OK to get involved: it’s OK to ask: really it is: Jesus teachings were designed to make the listener think: rarely were the parables 'obvious': they required: and still require dialog to draw the teaching: the ideas: and the many layers of thought and application out of them: the more folks tell me they have it all down pat: the more they come across like they have all the answers: the more they act and talk in ridiculously dogmatic terms: seemingly forgetting that the guy who had the ultimate revelation of Jesus: Paul: referred to Him as a mystery: the more one has to approach these folks with caution like one approaches an unexploded bomb: they could go off at any minute : and it will get ugly: don't offer me a carrot and stick approach to love: I won't buy your conditions: the only condition I'll buy is that you offer me none: make it unconditional and we're in business
acknowledgements:
Repenting of religion: Turning from judgment to the love of God: Gregory A Boyd: Baker Books:ISBN: 978-0-8010-6506-4
http://www.amazon.com/Repenting-Religion-Turning-Judgment-Love/dp/0801065062/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263857368&sr=1-1
http://www.pbc.org/files/messages/7493/4441.pdf
The Beatles: Because: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE5f4hVMCew
The Beatles: The end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTUi9l84fRw
Unconditional love: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconditional_love
What God says about unconditional love: David Merck
http://www.vor.org/truth/dwm/uncond.pdf
Tupac Shakur: And I ain't worried bout a damn thang, with unconditional love
http://www.elyrics.net/read/t/tupac-shakur-lyrics/unconditional-love-lyrics.html
http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Conspiracy-Rediscovering-Hidden-Life/dp/0060693339/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263860645&sr=1-4
Absolutely. so we hold each other accountable. we raise our game through God's grace. In our own humanity, our attempts so often fall short, but if we fail to even ask Him to help us then we simply become part of the heaving masses of bad testimonials to our Savior's followers.
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