Monday Morning Munch No. 123 – What’s the worst that could happen?

What’s the worst that could happen?

If you love, really love, somebody enough to be the truest you for them?

They could reject you.
Squash your heart.
Hurt you.
Leave you bruised.
Make you cry.
Take advantage of your vulnerability.

If those things happen, are they any less deserving of your love and authentic, masks-off self?

For far too long my twisted logic has been to love people when they prove they deserve it.

Let’s just take a minute and let that conceit and selfishness soak in.

I’m scared people will leave me if they see who I really am, so until they walk over broken glass to prove they’ll stay, they don’t get the fullness of my love or personality or heart.

“Here’s like a sixteenth of my heart, let’s see what you do with it before you get anything else.”

Is that the way Jesus loves? Is that the way God treats us? “Hey yo girl, clean yo’self up a little, commit to never sinning again and then we can talk about you receiving My love.”

Nah.

Praise God He does not love that way.
Praise God that His love is not based on our performance or worthiness to receive the fullness of His heart and love.
Praise God that He loves us in our junk and our sin and our filthiness and that through sanctification His grace sweeps away the dirt that His Son died for.

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:6-8

So what if I get hurt? So what if it’s uncomfortable? So what if people see what is true about me (that I’m a sinner in desperate need of a Savior)?

They’re worth loving with a real, unguarded, smotheringly genuine love, for the glory of the One who loves us that way.

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MORE ON LOVING OTHERS IN A REAL, JESUS, SORT OF MASKS-OFF WAY:

All that I have is Yours: The Stunning Love of God

A Gospel-Oriented, Mission Driven, and Community-Centered Church: The Practice of Community, Part One

A Gospel-Oriented, Mission Driven, and Community-Centered Church: The Practice of Community, Part Two

Love Will Never Fail
By Mosaic

I wanna love without saying a word,
Without wearing a mask,
Without building a wall.

Shouting does not guarantee you are heard
The words burn in the atmosphere as they fall

True love has no defense,
It cannot stay at an arm’s length
Or sit on a fence
It wades into the fray
To take a bullet in the place of the one
That’s holding the gun

Love is patient, it holds on tight
When the train de-rails
Love hopes all things, bears all things,
Believes all things.
Love never fails.

I wanna love without guarding myself
Without strapping on armor
Or wielding a sword,
To lay down defenseless, believing the best
Not keeping track of who’s winning, who lost
Or who scored

True love is kind
It does not tally when it has been wronged or maligned
It knows its closest friends will betray
And it stands by them faithfully anyway

Love is patient, it holds on tight
When the train de-rails
Love hopes all things, bears all things,
Believes all things
Love never fails.

Love endures, it stands firm in the
Rain, the wind, the hail
Love will never give up,
Love will never end,
Love will never fail

Faith, hope and love will abide
Prophecy will pass away,
Language and knowledge will pass away
But faith, hope and love will abide

I wanna love without saying a syllable
Trusting my actions to speak on my part
Behavior is louder than that which is audible
Revealing most clearly the state of the heart

Love is patient, it holds on tight
When the train de-rails
Love hopes all things, bears all things,
Believes all things
Love never fails.

Love endures, it stands firm in the
Rain, the wind, the hail
Love will never give up,
Love will never end,
Love will never fail