Our Love Should Be Ridiculous - Crosswalk the Devotional - October 4

Truths observed at the intersection of faith and life by Crosswalk.com editors [Crosswalk.com Logo]( Crosswalk: The Devotional [Devotionals]( [Newsletters]( [e-Cards]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Our Love Should Be Ridiculous by Stephen Sanders Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. [Romans 12:10]( Every once in a while, you meet a Christian who just flat out makes you feel good about life in general. It doesn’t happen probably as much as it should, but nonetheless, it’s always nice to see. Even though it may just be a brief encounter, you leave that conversation feeling important, hopeful and restored. Sometimes, it’s even so powerful that it inspires you to become a better person. I recently had an encounter with a certain pastor who just flat out blew me away with the way he carried himself. This was actually my 2nd time meeting him, and I just can’t describe the attitude of this man. His love for God and love for people was simply contagious. Everyone in the room was just so peaceful and complimentary after he left. I found myself wanting to be more like that because, well, I’m not. Showing “brotherly affection” towards others is not something that comes naturally for me. I tend to make a lot of excuses when it comes to being more outgoing and more loving. After all, it’s much safer to just ignore people I don’t know or have things in common with. That makes perfect sense, right? It’s wiser to just let someone else share God’s love with them; someone who can “minister to them more effectively than I.” God continues to deal with me about this on a daily basis. Not only is displaying love towards one another one of the chief commands of the Christian [faith]( but it’s the core of who Jesus Christ was while he was on earth in the flesh. It’s easy to assume that Jesus would have gotten along easier with the “church folks,” but He actually spent all of His time with tax collectors, prostitutes and such; people who He had absolutely zero in common with. The religious people of that day mocked Jesus for loving the way He did. Jesus’ love was ridiculous. I’ve been studying the heck out of the book of Romans lately. It’s been great because I’ve begun to see this continuing contrast between the “church folks” and the “actual church” that Paul was ministering to in those days. The “church folks” were so proud of the list of regulations that defined who they were and set them apart from the society in which they lived. The “actual church” simply grabbed hold of the free gift of Christ and displayed it openly to that same society. The “church folks” disqualified others from becoming God’s Chosen because of what they were unwilling to do. But the “actual church” made no assumptions about who could and could not be “saved.” The early church let the good news of the cross speak for itself... and they would scream this truth to everyone... everywhere... even if it meant dying a gruesome death. Their love was ridiculous. In today’s culture, self-sacrificial love to the point of death sounds just as extreme as it did back then. So many of us make excuses as to why we don’t need to love like that. Christians and church doctrines manage to create unwritten laws that shield us from having to actually love like the Spirit of Christ so desperately wants us to. We take specific scriptures and turn them into shield for our own protection. Take [Romans 12:1-2]( for example: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. [CONTINUE READING →]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( You May Also Like: [10 Things You Should Know about Original Sin]( Sam Storms Original sin sounds so archaic, so pessimistic, so grimly medieval. For heaven’s sake, this is the era of the computer and the space shuttle. And haven’t the most learned psychologists and sociologists assured us that people are by nature good, having been turned to their evil ways not by some inner instinct but through the influence of a deviant culture and sub-standard education? These questions indicate how important it is for us to understand the biblical notion of original sin. [CONTINUE READING →]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [5 Indicators of an Evil Heart]( Leslie Vernick I think one of the reasons we don’t “see” evil is because we find it so difficult to believe that evil individuals actually exist. [CONTINUE READING →]( [Crosswalk.com Logo]( [Read about Salem Web Network]( | [Unsubscribe From This Email]( [Email Preference Center]( | [View in Browser]( © 2020 Salem Web Network. All rights reserved. 111 Virginia Street, Suite 500, Richmond, VA 23219. This email is never sent unsolicited. You are receiving this email because your email address, {EMAIL}, is signed up to receive newsletters, updates, and special offers from Crosswalk.com - The Devotional. [Link](