Infinite Love

I just finished a wonderful book. It's called The Irresistible Revolution written by Shane Claiborne. It's primarily about the emerging underground Christian movement that's spreading and growing across North America, and throughout the world. The book has opened my eyes to a lot of things that I'd never thought about, but make a ridiculous amount of sense now that I see them in the light. One of the more potent things I've seen, and that I'd like to share, is a new angle, or a new paradigm through which I now see my identity in Christ and my relationship with God.

Growing up, and even after I committed my life to Christ, I had a very westernized, Americanized view of Christianity. Jesus died so that I could live. Let me unpack that. I was dead in my sin, condemned under God's wrath, and then Jesus arrived like a knight in brilliant white satin armor and stood in between me and God, absorbing the wrath that had been prepared for me. My debt being paid, my righteousness restored, I could now commune with God and enter into eternal life, having the life of Christ now inside me (Colossians 2:13-14). That is all true; beautifully and wonderfully true. But that's not all. There's more to this life we have in Christ than being joyful and freed from the burdens of sin and the worries of this world.

All that I've just described was purchased by Christ's blood on the Cross. God sent his passover lamb to atone for the sins of his children. The cross was only the atoning sacrifice. God could have done that in a few hours, a few days at the most. But God didn't do that. He spent 33 years in and among his creation. If the sacrifice could have been made, done and over with in a few days, why did he wait so long before he did it?

A year or two ago, the answer that I would have given to that question is "so that he could suffer through the ordeals and hardships, temptations and desires, fears and sorrows in this fallen world in order that he can help us overcome our own." And you know what, that's all true. Christ lived in this world and overcome it in order that we may be freed from it's power in Him. But that's not all. Christ overcame the world so that we can rise above it, but to what end? If all we needed was a ticket out of suffering, he could kill us dead the minute we except his saving grace; that would do the trick. But that's not what happens. There's something more here than just our being freed.

If you read through the gospels and look at how Jesus lived his life, you begin to see patterns. Most of Jesus' recorded interactions with people took place among those who needed healing, who needed love, who needed grace. There are interactions throughout the gospels between Jesus and the religious and social elite, but a majority of his time spent with people is among the oppressed and the poor (both physically and spiritually destitute). He even tells us what's going on. "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17) He's not here to simply take away our condemnation, He's here to heal us.

Our ailment is not that of the physical world (though it may manifest itself that way at times), our sickness is a spiritual sickness. We live in a world that has fallen away from God and his life giving affections. We are born, and continue to be until the restoration of our relationship with God, spiritually anemic. We lack the life giving love that flows into us from God.

When you look at how Jesus lived, you can see Him again and again give the people around him life-giving, energizing love to counter their spiritual anemia. That's how he lived, and that's how we, as followers of Christ, are to live. We, possessing the well of living water that is the indwelling spirit of Christ in us, have what the people around us need.

I know a lot of people (I was once, and still may be from time to time, one of them) who hear this message and say, "I know! That's why I'm on the corner telling people about the life giving power of Jesus. That's why I hand out tracts, that's why I tell people that Jesus is the only way to salvation, that's why... etc." But that's not what people need. James says it best, "If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking daily food, and one of you says to him, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?" (James 2:15-16) People don't need to know about Jesus, they need to see Jesus, they need to experience Jesus. They don't need to know about the energizing shot of love, they need the energizing shot of love. A lot of people know about Jesus. Some people even know enough about Him that they know that they need what He has, but tragically, no one has ever showed them His face, or His love, and they remain anemic, despising Him for not coming to help.

The reason (at least one of them) that Jesus lived in the world and overcame it in order that we can overcome it in Him is so that we can be Jesus to those around us. Having overcome the world, no longer being subject to its pressures and stresses, having found our worth in something not of this world, we are able to absorb the pains and sorrows of others who are not yet in Christ. Having Christ as our anchor, we are able to lift enormous burdens. We are able to give until it hurts because the love that we give out of doesn't run out. We are able to allow those we are trying to help to trample us as we hold out the Gift of love to those who need it. We are able to get punched in the face, kicked in the throat, kneed in the groin, socked in the stomach, and kicked in the shins, and get back up and say, "I love you and want to help" because the love that we have, the love that flows from God, has no limit. The love of an eternal God is eternal.

This gives us enormous strength. Strength to move mountains, strength to change the world. If you are in Christ, if you have a relationship with Christ and his love is flowing into you, you have this strength. Most of us don't realize that we have this strength because we never flex our Jesus muscles. We always try and do things out of our own strength, out of our own will, out of our own love, and whatever we can't do out of our own ability, we label as impossible (I know, because I'm one of those people). We rely on our own strength, never stepping out in faith that Jesus' love will carry us.

If you're a follower of Christ, if you have a living relationship with God, you are capable of infinite love. In this finite world, in your finite body, you have been given an infinite love. Use it. Trust it. Go to those who need it and give it to them. An infinite love cannot be for one person, nor can it be kept inside. The finite cannot contain the infinite. You can't experience the full love of Christ without an outlet (it won't fit). It has to flow through you. Use the love, let Christ's love keep you together while the world tears you apart. Loose your life for them and find it in Him. Jesus came into this world to show us how to do this. Jesus came to show us how to be Jesus to others. You can follow Him and experience an infinite love, allowing it to flow through you, or you can sit and do nothing and only experience what love you can fit inside your finite being. It's up to you. Don't settle for the finite when you can have the infinite.