That Churchনমুনা

A CHURCH THAT LOVES PEOPLE

To be That Church, means being available and accessible wherever God has positioned you. Whether a big city, or a rural country town. Jesus wants us to love people, and that love will be inconvenient for us at times. It will cost us something, it will mean we need to choose love over our own lives.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-48 to love our enemies, to love those who are unlovable. Love is inconvenient, it goes against our flesh nature and taps into the depths of Christ’s love in us.

The story of the Good Samaritan is a story of inconvenient love. The story begins with an expert in the law wanting to gain “eternal life.” He knows he must love God with all his heart, soul mind strength (Luke 10:27) and for him, that is not an issue. It’s the next section of the story that stumps him: Love your neighbour as yourself. And in wanting to justify himself, the Message Bible says, “he was looking for a loophole”, hoping Jesus would say love your fellow Israelites (easy), love those in the Church (easy), love your friends (easy) but Jesus uses a story to reveal his heart. Love like the Samaritan, love those you despise and not just love them go out of your way for them, stop what you are doing for them, pay for their recovery – love inconveniently!

The Samaritan faced the inconvenience of the generosity of practical help, of saving that man’s life. We need to get back to what we are called to do, love the people in the place you have been called to. And that means, taking care of them, taking time to heal their wounds, and paying for their accommodation. Love is going to cost you time and money.

Prayer Point: Father, help our Church to love inconveniently. Help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength but not stop there, help me to love my neighbours. Help me to love those who are unlovable, to love my enemies with a love that goes beyond words but with actions.