His ways aren’t our ways, but they sure could be

My uncle killed himself last week.

They found his body yesterday.

He had a long history of mental health issues since 2003. Family members had tried to visit, to talk, to encourage, to be there for him. But nothing seemed to help.

Over the past decade, he had tried to kill himself 9 times.

After a failed marriage, he didn't have many friends or community. For the past 3 years, Blake would call my grandma 3–5 times a day just to have a conversation with someone who cared about him.

He would often spend his disability money buying things he didn’t need—stuff for the house, a brand new mustang that he never drove. And when it was all wasted, my grandma would give him more money to pay for groceries and rent.

We were all numb the suicide attempts and the reckless overspending. It's easy to look at Blake and blame him for taking my grandma's money. To judge him for not being responsible. For not considering other people.

I get it: Life is a struggle and often unfair, but Jesus didn’t come to give us a fair life.

Often, our attitude toward people who are difficult, different, or destitute looks like the opposite of Jesus.

In Matthew 7:12 Jesus says, “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.”

How many of us believe this? Do we believe this passage only applies to people who are like us?

Believe like us?
Look like us?

People who aren’t friendly?
People that look like us?

His ways aren't our ways but they sure could be.

A response of love

Philip Yancey wrote in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew: "although power can force obedience, only love can summon a response of love."

What I'm learning is that the Kingdom of God isn’t about us being right, though everything that Jesus taught was right and true.

Jesus spent his life helping people that society said he wasn’t allowed to be around. the Bible says often that Jesus was so moved by compassion that he helped, he healed, he spent time with, he loved.

The Kingdom of God is about loving God with every part of ourselves, and then truly loving everyone around us—no matter who they are or what they look like or what they believe.

What would our lives look like if we did the same?

What would our lives look like if we truly loved those people who are on the margins, the ones that society looks down on, the ones that people would talk about us behind our backs for spending time with?

What if we loved people even when it wasn’t convenient?

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
—John 13:34-35

Sometimes I read that verse and I think it only means those closest to me. What if it means everyone around me, including the people that frustrate me?

How would those people change?
How would that change me?

Scripture says that we love because God first loved us. This is how we love others—as we come to the understanding deep within our hearts that God loves us exactly how we are.

The way to love others isn’t by trying harder—doing that will only leave you frustrated. We love others as we begin to understand how Jesus loves us. As this belief begins to take root in our hearts, it changes us from the inside out—our lives begin to flow from an undeserved favor that has been  graciously bestowed on us. And the result is more love for others.

In Isaiah 58, we see a glimpse of what matters to God.

What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.

Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.

Then when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.' A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places...

Imagine how our lives would begin to glow in the darkness as we put into practice this vision of God’s Kingdom.

I think about my uncle Blake, I think about my own pride and arrogance, and I think about a God made visible in the loving conversations of my grandma. I’m reminded of a Savior who left the comfort of his divinity to take on human form so that he could show us, tell us, how much he loves us just the way we are. To show us the beautiful face of God and call us to a life worth living.

What would it take for us to follow Jesus and be the face of God to others? To those strangers we meet on the street and those closest to us? What if God wants to use you to speak life and encouragement? What if the opportunity has been right in front of you this entire time?

May we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart that is open to what the Spirit wants to do through us.

His ways and His thoughts aren’t our ways, but they sure could be.