what is love....?

and i don't mean baby don't hurt me. i think haddaway asked a question many of us ask on a daily basis. what is love? what is it about this word that can drive a cowboy crazy or drive a man insane? (a 50 cent peace if you can figure out that reference)

love is something that everyone on this planet craves in one form or another. i know i crave it. there is not a moment on any day where i say to myself, "you know, i don't want to be loved right now. screw it!" sounds asanine doesn't it?

lately i've been reading of a love in the bible that goes futher beyond any love i've ever expressed and i don't just mean the big one that is probably creeping into your minds right now. yes, the cross is the ultimate love expression but another one has caught my eye earlier in that fateful week, it occured on the night before christ's death while he was praying in the garden. it is the night before he is going to be killed and he doesn't just pray for himself, he prayed for us. in john 17:20 jesus prays: "i am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their (the disciples) testimony. my prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and i are one, father--that just as you are in me and i am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me."

these verses break my heart for two very big reasons. the first being that a love like that is unfathomable to me. jesus knew he was about to die, yet he prayed for me and you and everyone else that would ever live on this planet who will believe in him. how unselfish and oh how much does it convict me. when do i ever practice a love such as this? second, jesus prayed we would be one. not separate, but one full body in christ jesus our lord and god our father. i cast glances around the city of tallahassee and i see how un-united the parts of this body are. i've been many other places and i know it's the same way there. why are things this way? why do we compete for people to come to our church when in reality we are all one church? it hurts. things aren't as they should be.

the final question i have and the thing that drives me in my pursuit of the lord's desire for my heart (see my last blog) is how can i help unite the body of christ? i feel called to unite believers and not just in the church i am currently working at, but all believers in this city, then state, then country, then this world. will it happen? probably not. however, i am definitely living this motto from phillipians "i can do anything through christ who strengthens me." if we all come together (and i don't mean in a hippie 70s kind of way) and learn to love each other and everyone else, then we would truly start to become the tangible hands of christ we are called to be.

for me right now......conviction ---> change ---> revolution

what is the revolution? the revolution is a people dwelling in christ loving each other (and everyone else for that matter) and being the tangible hands of love to a broken, hurting world full of people who desperately need the lord and each other. this life was meant to be full of love and joy. why don't you and i start now? who knows, maybe it will catch on...