The simplicity of love

I love a well-conceived and a well-executed plan.  It's what I do.  I enjoy considering every detail, drawing on other's experiences, thinking through each day, examining logistics and support, and then critiquing the performance at the end.  These types of plans have been a significant part of my life at work for the past fifteen years.

But here's the rub.  This time in Costa Rica, I have become increasingly aware that my love for "plan the work and work the plan," has slowed my growth as a Christ-follower.  The truth in the Christian life that I've missed is this...

Flexibility is the key to suitability.

Here's what I mean.  I am, and most of my friends in the U.S are, professional working, suburb living, church attending Christians.  We're busy in our lives with our children, our jobs, our hobbies, and our other pursuits.  We LIVE by schedules and plans.  When someone asks us to deviate from our plan, we absolutely hate to do so.  We were a slave to our Blackberries, we ARE a slave to our IPhones.  And in doing so, you will find that the truth I've discovered is lurking in the shadows waiting to be found by each one of you reading this today.

For you see, flexibility is the key to suitability.  If you are inflexible in your life, you will be largely unsuitable for service and personal growth in the Christian life.

Once you've crossed the line of faith and become a Christ follower, we are commanded to go.  Where?  That's between you and God.  But the command is clear.  We need to go.  We need to make disciples, we need to baptize, and we need to teach them to obey.  This takes time and it takes flexibility.

Making disciples begins with loving those who aren't.  In Matthew 25, Jesus reminds us that true Christians have certain characteristics.  When people are in prison, we go to visit.  When folks are hungry, we feed them.  When children need clothes, we make sure they are clothed.  When a thirsty soul strolls in our path, we give them a drink.  When a man or woman is sick and hurting, we go to comfort them.  And the list goes on.  It is only as short as your imagination is.  

The trouble is...People aren't hungry on your schedule.  Prison visits may be the same time as your tee time.  A child getting dressed for school on the other side of town may very well coincide with your quiet time.  Sickness does not afflict at times when your kids do not have soccer practice.

Our quest for the perfect life may very well result in an empty life.

On our trip this year, we went to Costa Rica with no real plan for service and no projects to manage, participate in, and critique.  At the most basic level, it was very difficult for me, the master of inflexibility.

Through prayer and counsel, I have come to learn that we are here to love.  We are here to help the helpless, to comfort the afflicted, and to encourage the downtrodden.  We are here to pray for the hopeless, to sense discomfort, to notice pain.  But in all these things, there is no plan, no project, and no schedule.

There is a simplicity in love.  It boils down to this...

We are available.

Are you available to love?

Have a great day.  Bill