Where Did Our Love Go?

I bet the chorus to that song started playing in your head the minute you saw the title, didn’t it.

Baby, baby, where did our love go?

And all your promises

of a love forever more?

Go ahead, hum it a little bit more….I’ll wait. I wonder if Jesus gets the same song stuck in His head when He looks at His Church. We’re good at a lot of things and we could be better at some. Loving one another and those yet to join the family is one of those things we could be a lot better at.

If we tried.

We’re good at loving Jesus. We praise Him, proclaim Him as our personal savior, and talk in glowing terms with our brothers about Him. It seems to be the people around us where we struggle. Now,there are innumerable reasons why we struggle to love others and we can provide a justification for every single one of them. People push our buttons, they’re different from us, they’re consumed with bad habits, and on and on and on. It’s no wonder we love who we love and don’t who we don’t.

Except, Jesus didn’t leave us that option.

Love your neighbor as yourself. No conditions, no out clause, no way out. He demonstrated this for us by loving and associating with those who had been segregated by the culture in which He walked. He loved through words and His companionship. He loved without words through compassionate action. He loved through angry correction that put people back on the rails. He loved through sacrifice.

Where has the love gone? Each of us might want to ask ourselves this question each morning as we greet the day. The most emergent, missional, seeker sensitive, purpose-driven thing we can do is love others in the same way that Jesus loved others. Love them as they are, Accept them as they are, Forgive them as they are.

Just don’t leave them there. Introduce them to the one who loves, accepts, and forgives you.