Four Acts of Love

With all that has happened in the last week from the tragic death of George Floyd to the protests and to the riots, I debated whether to postpone or rewrite this post. But I believe that all that has happened has only confirmed the message of this post. It is not only a toxic online environment (discussed in the following paragraph) but the toxicity flows through everyday life. Though I am leaving the post as is, consider how in your life, in your conversations, and even in your thoughts to put into action the 4 acts of love listed below. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the messed up church at Corinth, “Do everything in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14), so we should strive to do that. Then the healing can begin.

There is a toxic environment online. It seems to me, many people want to demonize the opposing view and those people with it. This usually seems to happen in political social media posts. Conversation, dialogue, and civility are missing. It is very much a “us versus them” environment with the “I am right and you are so very wrong” as the prevailing attitude. It is not a friendly environment. How do we change that?

I believe we change it with love. Christians know that God loves us and wants each one of us. Our job is to love others. Our lives are a witness of his love, and we need to share that love. Note true love comes from God. If love is self sourced it ends up being about one’s self, and that is not really love. I believe to change this toxic environment, we need to practice the 4 acts of love in the table below.

When people say …	Imagine Jesus saying …	Christians practice …
“I feel judged.”	“You’re welcome just as you are.”	Radical Hospitality
“I don’t want to be lectured. You don’t care what I think.”	“Your thoughts are welcome; your doubts are welcome.”	Fearless Conversation
“Church people are a bunch of hypocrites.”	“We’re all in this together.”	Genuine Humility
“Your God is irrelevant to my life.”	“God is here, ready to connect with you a fresh way.”	Divine Anticipation

Radical hospitality is about being welcoming to even your enemies. You do not have to agree with their ideas, lifestyle, or talk, but welcoming acceptance and respect of them as a person is one way to show them God’s love. There is no need to judge, rather there is an opportunity to dialogue and build a relationship.

Fearless conversation is about sharing and conversing without fear. There needs to be a lot of listening with questions asked to understand each other. The welcoming respect of the person allows one to not worry about the conversation. Be natural, authentic, and humble because God has this. There is nothing for you to prove.

Genuine humility means you can be yourself. You can be vulnerable, because we are all in this together. Humility is not defined as one’s shortcomings or by self depreciation. It does not involve comparing yourself to others. There is no judging. Rather “True humility is not thinking less of yourself, but it is thinking of yourself less” (C. S. Lewis). Genuine humility is relational: meeting people where they are at; being open to learn from others; and being willing to admit mistakes.

Divine anticipation is recognizing that God is at work in our daily lives, and anticipating the work that God is doing around us and through us. Don’t be afraid. Tell your story in an authentic and natural way. Just love them and let God work. And remember to pray. God is ready to connect with you and with them.

Toxic environments can be overcome with love. Most of this information is from the book “Why Nobody Wants to be Around Christians Anymore” by Thom and Joani Schultz (2014).

Christian Worldview

What do you believe? Though 65% of Americans say they are Christian (Pew Research, 2019; https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/), I believe that most of them view the world in a very different way from the traditional Christian view of the world. Here is a short summary of what I believe. I believe this fits into that traditional Christian worldview.

When I look at myself, I see that I have a strong tendency to be selfish and self-centered. I look around and I see that I am not alone. Self centeredness is part of our human condition. Because of it all kinds of evil and injustice exist. We are able to dream of utopia, where everyone is well behaved and loved and everyone works for the common good, but we are unable to achieve that. That is because we are messed up and broken. Deep down inside of each of us we are selfish. This is the root of our problems, and this eventually corrupts every human institution and undertaking, no matter how noble.

I believe there is a solution. We can not fix ourselves but God can. God loves each and every one of us. Jesus came into the world to show us God and how much he loves us. He died for our selfish wrongdoing and wrong thinking. And he rose from the dead to show us that he has a good life of love for us. Trusting in him, starts a process of changing us into loving people and removing that self centeredness. We, who believe, will one day be fully renewed, and will be in a full and complete relationship with God. That is what I believe and what I have experienced.

For a much longer version, 22 years ago I wrote this “creed” of what I believe. If I wrote it today, it might look slightly different but it is a good summary of what I believe. Read it here: https://heinsite.blog/what-i-believe-the-creed-of-paul-f-hein/

Who am I?

What defines me? Who am I? What is my identity? Those questions get asked by a lot of people. I have asked those questions of myself over the years. I can come up with many different answers. I am a retired computer person, a retired research meteorologist, an American, a graduate of the University of Washington, a graduate of Camas High School, a Lutheran Christian, a husband, and a heterosexual white male. None of these answers really matter. What matters is that I am forgiven and loved, a child of God. That is who I am. That is what matters, and it is all because of what Jesus did out of love for me and you.

We tend to make a big deal out of our identities, many times too big of a deal. We get into “us versus them” tribalism. So we compare ourselves, our group identity, with others, and say something like this, “We are better than you because we are the great UW Huskies and you are only lowly WSU Cougars”, or vice versa. Rivalries can be fun, but they are not important and are not defining who we really are. Deep down inside we are all the same. There is no “us versus them”. We all are broken, corrupt, self-centered people. We are sinful people in need of help. The strange thing is God still loves us despite our many faults. It is his unconditional agape love (talked about in the last post, What is love? – heinsite) that restores us to him. We are loved and forgiven. We can be his, and that becomes our identity. We become forgiven and loved children of God. Turn to God and receive his love. That is what really matters.

What is love?

February is the month, where we make a big deal out of love, especially here in Loveland, Colorado. The English word love is not well defined. You can come up with several definitions of love depending on the context. I have found one definition that I think does a fair job of covering what it means to love. I think it is a good definition.

“Love is a commitment you make to act in someone else’s best interest. True love can only be known by the actions that it prompts.” (“God Space”, by Doug Pollock, p. 92)

Many think that love is a feeling. I would disagree. Love is not a feeling though feelings are many times connected with love. Love is altruistic. It puts the other person needs first.

A great description of love is found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogantor rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.Love never ends.” (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13&version=ESV)

The Greek word for love in this passage is agape. It is a selfless unconditional love. (Greek has many words that can be translated as love.) It is the primary word for love in the Bible. It is the love that God has shown us. Romans 5:8 says, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This passage shows that God’s love is tangible, an action that is directed toward each one of us. It is also unconditional. We did not have to get our act together. We were “still sinners”. And it is a sacrificial love that cost Jesus his life.

Look back at 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a. Replace the word love (and it) with Jesus or God, and read it again. That describes Jesus. It is who he is. You can replace love with your name instead, and see how well you do. I know that I fail many times at these things. I tend to be selfish and not selfless. Many times it has been my needs and my happiness that have driven my love actions. My love has not been pure as it should be. Thank God that he is not like me. He loves us totally with that selfless unconditional agape love. Though you can not always count on me, you can count on God. His love is there for you. He always desires the best for you.