I continue to be amazed at the Christian community's desire to appear better at things than non-believers. Is being better at baseball, music, politics or anything else a sign of Christian life? I don't think so.
What we should be good at is being loved and loving. We should be the world's best at uninterrupted love.
I remember this thought coming home to me the first time through the writings of Francis Schaeffer in his book The Mark of the Christian. He was the first that showed me that the Christian's credibility is found in sustained love just like Jesus said it was.
What if we focused on this one ability as our societal calling and the true basis our our witness? Would we lose all the abilities we engage in while focusing on being really good at love? No. Love needs a context. Any skill taken seriously is a context for sustained love.
I have been on this Christian journey for quite a while. I have seen every kind of ability celebrated when a Christian is involved.
I have also noticed that we don't quite know how to celebrate the same ability displayed by an unbeliever. Perhaps we don't want them to be so good at baseball, music, politics or anything else. Why? We are basing our hope on Christians being better at things because they are Christians. Should we focus on being better at these things or focus on being really good at uninterrupted love while doing these things?
I have come to the conclusion that Jesus was perfect at uninterrupted love. As far as I know, he never tried to be good at anything else to prove His point. Let's be good at love as we do our sports, music and politics. That makes a great combination and it protects what really matters which is great relationships.
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