Puddle Jumper part 1
Have you ever heard that phrase, "Don't cross oceans for someone who wouldn't jump a puddle for you"? Yeah... I don't like that phrase. I guess, with my Will Graham super-empathy I can see where it comes from. You want to protect yourself, right? You want to make sure you're putting your three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure), your effort, into people that deserve it, right? You don't want to just pour yourself into a black hole where you feel like you're just giving and giving and giving and it isn't making any sort of difference at all. But here's the thing: Love isn't about getting. Anything. Ever. Love isn't about getting the result you think you should get. Love is giving. Period. Giving what you've got by knowing and believing that you've got it. Receiving it and releasing it. Receiving it BY releasing it. Letting what's inside come out and in that way experiencing it. And, as I think I've been saying recently, it's not about them. Really, it's not even about you. It's about the God who is love. It's about HIM working in you in order to will and to do of HIS good pleasure. That's where our focus needs to be. Not self-centered, but Christ-centered. Which means people-centered. Not judging people by appearance, but simply judging righteous judgment. Loving everybody you come into contact with regardless of whatever else. Going into all the world (or at least your world) and preaching the gospel to every creature you encounter. Loving people no matter what. Whether or not they would jump over a puddle for you. Because it doesn't matter what they would or wouldn't do. What matters is what YOU do. All you can control in this life is what YOU do. That's your sphere of influence. And that's important. Because what you do matters. You have a bigger affect on people than you might think. So it's important that we cross those oceans. It's important... well... let me drop my memory verse before I run out of room. "And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain" (Matthew 5:41). Going the extra mile. Putting that extra effort in. Bending over backwards in order to give someone else what they need. That's what love is all about. Seeing a need and meeting it. And the part I like about this verse, that doesn't necessarily seem to be preached very often, is the part about being compelled. Jesus was talking about helping people, right? But He was also talking about how we deal with people who... let me say it this way: Another well known saying goes like this, "A friend in need is a pest." We all have those people in our lives who only ever hit us up when they need something from us, right? Like we won't hear from them unless and until we can do something for them. Jesus was saying, "Even with those people... give them everything you've got. Don't look at it as a hardship. Look at it as an opportunity to love. And we need all the opportunities to love that we can get. Because loving people is how we feel alive. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. So even when (espeically when) someone is compelling us... go the extra mile. Don't look down at them unless it's to reach out and help them up. Asking for help is hard. If someone's doing it, it's probably because they really need it. So cross that ocean. Jump that fence. Give that maximum effort that is love!