Loving Lavishly

I am entirely, unquestionably, unapologetically tired of labels.  You know the ones.  Those little barbs of disrespect strategically tossed in an effort to highlight others alleged shortcomings while keeping our own enshrouded.  Addict. Prostitute. Divorcee. Single parent. Gay. Radical. Liberal. There are a million more. They are lavishly attired judgments masquerading as identifiers. They carry stigmas that damage the heart, alienate friends, and estrange relationships. They can crush the soul.

Why do we use them?  Is it so much more difficult to say “the lady with the beautiful smile” than it is to say “the addict in the corner”?  Could not both be true of the same individual?  Are we so desperately insecure that we feel compelled to verbally eviscerate other’s reputations in an unbridled attempt to secure our place in society?  Are we really that pathetic?  Apparently.

We troll through life making sure our elbows rub only the proper ones and that our children never come in contact with the undesirable.  We hide our own secrets and try to uncover everyone else’s.  We are in a desperate race to be the last one standing with their secrets still intact—and for what? Is there a grand prize for the one who has the most hidden secrets in the end?  I’m thinking “no” since King Solomon, in his grand dissertation on meaning, stated in Ecclesiastes 12:14 that every work and every secret thing will be brought to judgment, whether good or evil.  No prize, just a great unveiling.

So I petition for total honesty—with ourselves and with one another. I make no apology for who I am and the events of my life.  I accept that they are unchangeable. I know I am forgiven. I comprehend that those events do not define me.  They enhance me. They make me better able to look past the label on another and accept them for the person God created. They allow me to see potential in myself and others. They compel me to love like Jesus would.  Indiscriminately.

This by no means indicates that I approve or endorse habits that flout God’s law, I do not.  It simply means that God has pressed upon me to love boundlessly.  Love him wholeheartedly.  Love others unrestrainedly.  Nowhere in my Bible have I found permission to judge others on their indiscretions, past or present.  Nor have I found an instance where God did not love the ones he so lovingly created. I have only found that I am to love Him so much that it flows back through me and touches everyone I meet.  It is a journey, a growing process.  It has given birth to a new prayer that I pray for myself and my church. 

“Father, help us to be so enamored with you, so desperately in love with you, that your love fills us, flows out of us, and touches everyone with whom we come in contact.  Make us magnets for you.”  With this in mind, it is my goal to love as lavishly as the Father by loving the Father lavishly.