When I was a very
young child I used to love watching my older cousins play the game of
Twister. If you're not familiar with it,
it's a game where you stretch and contort your body to try and land on
designated colors on a large floor mat.
The most agile and flexible person always won. I would beg and plead to play with them, but
I always got the same response: You're
not old enough! Apparently, my immature
and bite-sized limbs would only hinder my progress.
Christian love
reminds me a lot of twister. You never
knew what color would be called out next; you simply knew you had to move when
it was called (without moving away from the previous color). Your body was also challenged to move in
unconventional and unfamiliar ways. If
you weren’t nimble and flexible, you snapped and lost it!
1 Peter 4:8 says,
"And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will
cover a multitude of sins." It's
interesting because that word fervent means stretched out. It gives the picture of a love that is
pursuing in its very nature. It also
means, without ceasing. The analogy is
simple: Christian love requires you to
be nimble and flexible. You never know
where God is going to require you to "cover a multitude of sins." Only the mature and flexible won't snap and
lose it (James 3:13). This is an
absorbing kind of love. It is willing to
be hurt, unappreciated and even misunderstood.
Does that sound like someone we know?
How stretchy is our
love?
•
Have you ever muttered the phrase "I'm done with so and
so?"
•
How do we handle it when we are hurt by someone's actions (or lack
thereof)? How do we respond in the face
of anger and even hostility? How
stretchy is our love?
•
Do you recall Jesus (being innocent) washed the feet of his betrayer
and "loved him to the end?" (John 13) What do you do when you have
been gossiped about? Betrayed? Left out?
Used?
•
How do you handle it when someone has a need and you have other
plans?
•
Will you love another when it costs you sleep, gas, money, time? Would you sacrifice your spa day or
mini-vacation so another can be cared for?
•
Do you even know others "urgent needs" as Romans 12 puts it?
•
Is "your" time just
that?
•
Here's one that is very challenging...
Once you have loved sacrificially in all these ways, do you deserve a
break? Or are you ready when that next
"twister color" is called?
Conventional
psychology and even well-meaning Christians can communicate unbiblical messages
to us.
•
We need to "look out for
yourselves" and establish our own boundaries.
•
Things need to "fit into our lives" or else it's not from
God.
•
If you feel wounded or hurt by someone you should stay away from them
until you "heal". (Of course
if someone is physically or verbally abusive we need to separate and involve appropriate
authorities (Romans 13)).
There's one major
problem with this kind of life, it is the self-life. It does not mesh well with the life of Christ
that is dying to flow from us.
I honestly have shared this "wisdom"
a time or two. I can recall sensing the
Lord telling me "Please be sure that you're not teaching people to
disembrace the cross." When a need
arises, we must prayerfully consider our lives and responsibilities. It's foolish to try to meet all the needs in
the body because there are other "body parts" for that. But are we truly loving people sacrificially? Remember David said that He would only give
to the Lord that which cost him dearly (2 Samuel 24:24). Only we can answer that question.
Please see next page for First Session Notes: See you this Sunday at 8:45 AM!
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