They'll Know We Are Christians

by our Love.

Lately, God has been putting it on my heart to think deeper about the idea of Love. I've started reading the Ragamuffin Gospel, which is phenomenal. I really just want to get it through my thick skull that God has already saved me, He already loves me and He has called me to Love. Jesus loved the outcasts. He loved everyone. We're called to love everyone. Aside from that, I'm still going through John. 13:34-35 says
[a new command I give you: Love one another. as I have Loved you, so you must Love one another. by this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you Love one another]
and on top of that, we've started reading "On Religion" by John Caputo in my religion class. The first chapter is just on God and Love in general.
One of my favorite lines so far is "if Love is the measure, the only measure of Love is Love without measure." And it's about loving without holding anything back. About loving unconditionally and beyond mediocrity. We put boundaries on our love without even realizing it. We have extremely high standards for the people we love. It's easy to love our best friends, but much harder to love the people we think are weird (even though we're just as weird). "The mark of really loving someone or something is unconditionality and excess, engagement and commitment, fire and passion. Its opposite is a mediocre fellow, neither hot nor cold, moderate to the point of mediocrity." And I'm reminded that the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference. When we really love, we throw ourselves into something. We commit and we commit with passion. When we don't love, we don't care.
And then it comes full circle back to God in 1 John 4:7-8 -- "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love...God is love and those who abide in love abide in God and God abides in them."

Loving each other is loving God. Love is God. God is Love. Ok, I can't help myself. One more quote:
"As Love is the first name of God, "of God" is also the best name we have for those who Love."

I'm sorry. I feel like I could have split all of that up and unpacked each part and made this blog worthwhile, but this is all I have for now. God is Love, and He has called us to love in His name.