God loves you.

That’s probably the most used phrase in all of Christian history. To be fair, it’s a central truth in much of Jesus’ teachings, and you would be hard pressed to find a more valuable phrase in all of the Bible.  Like many popular phrases however, this tiny declaration has been used so much that it’s lost some of its meaning and its punch.

So, what does it mean that God loves us?

I believe that God’s love isn’t just an emotional warmth that I can feel when I am receptive to it. Also, is not simply a fact that I carry around intellectually. It is a truth that must be experienced. God’s love is an active, aggressive process that engages my thoughts and emotions. It provokes me to see the world differently and to act in ways that I would not normally act.  It is disruptive, healing, and unpredictable. His love seems to push and pull, challenge, and at times even appears to ignore. I can never take His love for granted because I never know how it will manifest itself at any given moment.

That lead us to another honest question: What difference is that supposed to make in our lives?

Think back to someone in your life who has loved you well. (Hopefully, you have a few to choose from.) You enjoyed being around that person because of the way that their love made you feel. But it didn’t stop there. The love the person gave you changed the way you understood yourself. You became more confident when you were around them. You laughed more. Your stress seemed lighter. What enabled their love to make such a difference in your life?

You believed them.

You believed that they valued you, and therefore, you began to trust that you had value. You trusted that they were right about you.

The same is true of our relationship with God. “God loves you” is simple to understand but difficult to believe. We struggle to trust that God is right about us. So, we explain away his love for us as a nice platitude and fail to feel it’s full impact. When we believe that God loves us and trust how he sees us, it changes how we see ourselves and how we see the world around us.  Our lives become an unpredictable adventure. You may be minding your own business when God sits you next to most chatty person in history at the coffee shop or behind an exhausted mother with three screaming children in line at the grocery store. Instead of seeing this person as an impediment to your day. You see them with fascination, as a person to be valued. When we are secure in God’s love and the value that he ascribes to us, we no longer need this person to be anything other than what they are. When God loves us, we are set free to care for others, no strings attached.

I was taught a song in church when I was a child. We would sing of God’s love as a “fountain flowing deep and wide”. I didn’t fully understand it then, but I see now that being loved by God is a lot like being carried downstream. The stream of his love is deep so my feet can’t reach the ground to try to control it. It’s wide, so I can’t reach to the side and escape it. It bruises me, frustrates me, cleans me, and calms me. It’s constantly changing me and in the end, I will be in a very different place because of it.

May God’s love carry you downstream and leave you clean and full of hope.

The post Being Carried Downstream first appeared on Michael Ramsey.

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing.

Andrew Peterson is a singer, songwriter with an unusual voice, and deep, thought-provoking lyrics. In “The Silence of God” Peterson sings, “if a man is forced to listen to the voices of the mob, who are reeling in the throes of all the happiness they’ve got”. In our world, social media, and 24 hour news cycles have made the voices of the mob incredibly loud. You can imagine mobs from the old west, gathering with pitchforks and torches to see that someone is punished for their perceived crimes. Only instead of pitchforks and torches, mobs today wield keyboards and cameras. And they love nothing more than seeing someone fail.

Justice is important, but vengeance is toxic. If we are serious about loving others well, we have to not rejoice when they stumble. Our own insecurities and failures make us eager to see others fail as well, so we can feel better about ourselves. Most of us believe that others will love us only if we perform well. So, when we don’t perform well, our only hope is that others will perform poorly too. Maybe we can be loved, even when we fail, if our failures aren’t quite as bad as other people’s failures.

But love doesn’t work that way. In the words of William Shakespeare, “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove: O no! it is an ever-fixed mark” (Sonnet 116). Love is bigger than our performance, which means that our failures are not catastrophic. It also means that the failures of others are not either.

God has called for us to love the world, not catalogue their failures. If we are able to desire the best for others and to hope that they succeed in amazing ways, we are a step closer to loving them well, and to becoming more whole ourselves.

The post Learning To Love Well first appeared on Michael Ramsey.

During a concert in Sweden a couple of years ago Madonna spoke words of love and hope in the aftermath of the then recent terrorist events in Paris.

Yeah, Madonna.

Those words are as applicable today as they were then.

Here’s a bit of what she said,

“Only love will change the world, but it’s very hard to love unconditionally, and it’s very hard to love that which we do not understand or that which is different than we are, but we have to or this will go on and on forever.”

Was she right?

Is love the only thing that will change the world? Will love and understanding stop terrorism?

Yes and no.

There’s a philosophical idea that’s popping up all over the world. It’s becoming popular in Christian circles, in politics, and even with entertainment elites. It’s a distortion of the Golden Rule.  The Golden Rule says,

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

That’s pretty good advice. Jesus uttered that thought over 2000 years ago, and mothers and school teachers have been uttering it ever since. The new philosophy gaining ground today builds on this thought. We’ll call it The Golden Rule 2.0. It says,

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you and they will do the same.”

That’s a very comforting thought. The only problem is that Jesus never promised that. The point of Jesus’ teaching isn’t that there’s a way to guarantee that people will treat you well. When we twist the Golden Rule to promise this, something very ugly happens. We can begin blaming victims for how they are treated.

I’ve worked with countless abused wives who were trying to pull their lives back together. An overwhelming majority believed in The Golden Rule 2.0. They would say things like “it’s my fault that he hit me, I shouldn’t have made him angry.” They would walk softly around their husband trying not to “set him off”. The truth is that no wife should ever be abused. Ever. Period. There is no excuse for abuse. There’s also no excuse for gunning down innocent men, women, and children.

So, will unconditional love stop terrorism?

No.

Are we still called to unconditionally love?

Yes.

We love unconditionally, but we are also honest. We allow each person to be responsible for their actions without making tons of excuses. Whatever happened to make an abusive husband an abuser doesn’t change the fact that he is still the one responsible for reaching back and hitting his wife. He has to find a way to get better, and if he doesn’t, he needs to answer for his actions.

We love, not to change other people , but so that we will be changed. Those who choose love, always grow. It won’t stop terrorism, but it will crush selfishness , pride, and arrogance. There will be thousands of ideas put forward as to how to stop terrorism in the coming weeks and months, and I hope that our governments will find a way to address it. But on top of all of that, let’s choose love. Choose to love honestly. Choose to love without ignoring justice. Choose to love with grace. Choose to love and choose to forgive. Choose to love and choose to hope.

The post The Love of Power and the Power of Love first appeared on Michael Ramsey.

Why are we so eager to point out when and where people fail? When someone makes a very public mistake, it takes only seconds for people to post their disapproval on social media. This inclination seems to starts young for most of us. If you have brothers and sisters, you know what I’m talking about. One of the high points of the day for lots of children is catching their sister doing something she shouldn’t. He’ll tell her or mom or whoever will listen, how wrong it is leave the legos spread around the floor or how mean it was for her to not share her candy. Even when we’re young, we love pointing out to just how wrong others are.

This sort of scorekeeping seems especially prevalent in the church. There are thousands of sermons churned out every week about something or someone that is wrong. I’d like to stop for a second and simply ask the question: Why are we so obsessed with telling people how wrong they are? Many people will say that telling people that they are wrong is loving. Love is honest, that’s true. But if we are honest with ourselves, love is usually how we rationalize that deep desire to talk about how wrong their wrong stuff is. I doubt anyone sits around thinking, “how can I show this person how much I love them… oh yeah, I’ll tell them about all of the things they do that are wrong!”.

Seems like a bit of a stretch.

I normally know when I’m doing something wrong. I don’t always admit that I know, but deep inside I know. Maybe other people are like that too. What if the thing that people really struggle to believe is that God loves them, and that God isn’t scared off by whatever wrong they are wrapped up in. The good news of the Gospel is about God’s refusal to be held back by the sin in us and around us. Our challenge is to take our eyes off of how messed up we are and to fix them on Jesus, who is for us. I believe that is the message that people need to hear the most, not how weak they are, but how strong God is. We can’t right our wrongs by ourselves anyway. We need God’s help.

“But wait a minute!”, you may be saying, “so many people act like they are doing nothing wrong!”. I know. So do you and so do I. What breaks me out of pretending that I’ve got it all together is a reminder that because of Jesus, I don’t have to have it all together. He does. I just need to trust Him.

So, let’s stop obsessing about who’s wrong (we all are), and let’s start obsessing about a God who loves us more than we can imagine. That sort of love tends to right wrongs better than our accusations ever could.

The post You’re Wrong first appeared on Michael Ramsey.

The love for equals… is a human thing, the love for the less fortunate… is a beautiful thing. The love for the more fortunate… is a rare thing. And then there is love for the enemy. This is God’s love. It conquers the world.                                        -Frederick Buechner

Everyone is talking about how important it is to love other people. Both sides of the political aisle have taken up the theme of love to explain their actions. The left argues that it is unloving to keep refugees out of the country. The right says that it’s unloving to leave a huge national debt for our children to contend with. I’m not sure that either side is motivated by love very often, but it sounds good to voters. So, what does love look like in our world of sound bites and political spin?

Frederick Buechner’s brief quote on love is incredibly powerful. He points out that love for equals is a human thing. That is, it’s easy to love people who are like us. We like to talk about the same things. We spend money at the same stores and websites. We go to the same places. We have many of the same dreams. Beyond that, is the love for the less fortunate. Loving those less fortunate than we are is a beautiful thing. Sacrificing for love those with no home is admirable. Collecting food for those who don’t know if they will have dinner tomorrow night is a wonderful thing. Showing love to those in need is essential to a world worth living in.

Even more challenging than loving those less fortunate than us, is loving those who are more fortunate than we are. There’s a reason the story of Robin Hood is so timeless. We all love the thought of giving to the poor, but robbing from the rich? Well, that’s even better. It’s difficult to love those who have more money than we do, those who have had more opportunities and advantages. I am not talking about pandering to those who have what we want. That’s not love. Loving the “haves” is a difficult task.

Lastly comes a challenge directly from Jesus, to love our enemies. This seems ludicrous. It is also, I believe, impossible. At least it’s impossible without the direct intervention of God into our lives. Loving our enemies means praying for Donald Trump. It means wishing Hillary Clinton well. It means we pray for the children of the suicide bomber. Closer to home it means loving the person at work that you are competing with for a promotion. Loving our enemy means loving someone who may very well hate you for their entire life. That sort of love is God’s love. It is God’s desire for us, and it alone has the power to change the world.

The post Love That Changes The World first appeared on Michael Ramsey.

I have a favorite coffee shop in town that I go to when I get stuck in a creative rut. It’s an edgy place with great coffee. Sometimes a change of environment can make a huge difference in my thinking.  I’m amazed when I go there at how all of the employees seem to be in constant motion. If they aren’t taking orders, they are making drinks. If they aren’t making drinks they are preparing food. If they aren’t preparing food, they head out amongst the patrons and wipe down any table that is open. I’ve seen them wipe the same table 3 or 4 times before anyone new comes to sit down. It’s almost impossible to sit at a messy table in that place.

It’s a good business strategy, but it’s a good relational strategy as well. Not the staying in constant motion part, but the idea of doing what you can, when you can. Sometimes we don’t recognize that our relationships are struggling until they are broken and bleeding. Waiting to invest in your relationships until there are problems is like waiting until your engine is smoking to get the oil changed in your car. By that point the damage is done, and sometimes the damage is irreparable. Doing what you can, while you can may simply be starting a conversation. It may be making sure your wife gets a break from the kids. It might be stopping what you are doing so you can watch some TV with your son. It doesn’t take much to keep relationships healthy, but it takes a ton to bring them back when they become unhealthy. Here are a couple of the benefits of doing what you can, when you can:

It Limits The Amount Of Unseen Damage That Is Being Done

One of the challenges of relationships is that the person you care for may be struggling without you ever being aware of it. Some people process internally, and they may be hurting for a long time before it becomes visible. When it does become visible, there is usually a lot of damage to address. Relating in small ways when things seem ok keeps that sort of hidden damage from festering.

It Limits The Amount Of Work Needed

My best friend and I learned an important truth in high school. Neither of us had great cars. Cars are totaled when the damage done to them exceeds the value of the car. If either of us broke a cup holder in our car, they would have been totaled. So, we both had opportunities to push our cars (into the gas station, into a rolling start, etc…). We learned the crucial lesson that it’s easier to maintain momentum than it is to create it. Getting a car rolling is a challenge (especially if your best friend’s car is made of more steel than a battleship). Once you get it rolling, however, it is easier to keep it moving. The same is true of relationships. It takes less work to keep the fire of a relationship going than it does to start a fire once it’s out. Doing what you can, when you can keeps the fire going.

It Keeps You Relationally Awake

It’s easy to lose focus and become numb to things that have an everyday presence in our life. Continuing to ask, confess, invite, and listen keeps us relationally alive. It reminds us that we have relational work to do every day. Most days that work doesn’t seem like work at all, other days it might. The way to stay relationally awake and aware is to consistently make your relationships a priority. Give the time, say the words, do the work. It will add to you relational effectiveness and enjoyment.

When you do what you can, when you can, you’ll find that a little bit of effort at the right time can go a long way. Take some time today to think about what you can do to add value to the people around you. Your relationships are worth the effort.

The post Relational Momentum first appeared on Michael Ramsey.

For many years, the nation of Israel was just a nation of people with no land attached to them. They had spent the majority of their existence as slaves in Egypt, working other people’s land for other people’s profit. After escaping Egypt and battling through a series of military victories, Israel had a home of their own.  This was a massive season of change for Israel and its leaders.  How do you function now that you have a place of your own? What rules need to be in place? How do you keep your people connected? Those are just a few of the questions that must have been running through the minds of the leaders of Israel during those early months.

One of the structures that the leaders felt that God wanted them to put into place was the establishment of cities of refuge. These cities were places where someone could flee to if they had killed someone else without meaning to. The city would provide safety for them if anyone sought to avenge the person that was killed. They were to remain there until things were sorted out, the case was heard, and a verdict was rendered. There were six of these cities mentioned in Joshua chapter 20, Kedesh, Shechem, Kiriath-arba, Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan.

The following chapter (Joshua 21) provides a seemingly unrelated account of land distribution for the Levite people. The Levites were those people charged with serving in the temple. They were the priests of Israel. They also needed a place to live in this new country, so they came to the leaders and reminded them that they had also been promised homes. The leaders agreed, and set about designating various cities for the Levites. The rest of the chapter is a dry reading of the various cities assigned to the Levites. In the midst of that list of 48 cities, six familiar names appear, Kedesh, Shechem, Kiriath-arba, Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan. All six of the cities of refuge had been assigned to the Levites. The spiritual center of the nation was also to be a place of restraint and justice who those who might not normally receive it.

The message seems clear for us today, the church should always have a place for broken and at times, destructive people. We aren’t to ignore justice, but we are to be a place of second chances, and third and fourth chances if necessary. Our nation and many others, are wrestling with the idea of if and how to receive refugees escaping from other countries. Politicians argue extremes to rally their voter bases. The healthy answer would appear to be somewhere between the extremes of “shut our doors completely”, and “allow anyone in at any time”. Time will tell where our nation will land on that spectrum. One thing that does seem clear though is that the church should be heavily involved, whether the refugees are fleeing from other countries, or they are local people whose lives have been devastated by alcohol, poverty, or abuse. The church is to be a place committed to thinking the best of others, and offering them hope.

Does this mean that the church will at times be taking advantage of by destructive people?

Almost certainly.

If we embrace God’s call to reach broken people, we will eventually by hurt by their jagged edges. As we’ve all heard before, hurting people hurt people. We don’t need to be reckless, but the dangers of reaching broken people can never exceed our courage to continue reaching.

The post Cities of Refuge first appeared on Michael Ramsey.

Last week was another amazing week at Mission Serve. Mission Serve is an organization that brings together student groups from multiple states to join together to impact people in need in various communities. Last week over 250 students and leaders gathered in Robbinsville, NC to help build handicap ramps, put new shingles on homes, and paint and repair as needed. It was an amazing week that proved what teenagers today are capable of.

During a special prayer service last week, we meditated on a prayer by St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me and instrument of your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, let me grant pardon;

Where there is doubt; let me have faith

Where there is despair, let me bring hope

Where there is darkness, let me be light

And where there is sadness, let me bring joy.

It’s a simple prayer, written over 800 years ago, but it still resonates powerfully for our world today. The most common reaction we have as people is to hate those who hate us, to return injury for injury. We get dragged under by waves of doubt, and allow despair to cloud our vision. St. Francis’ prayer is a reminder that our faith is not to be reactionary. If we wait to react to what the world around us does, we will end up making decisions that are not consistent with what we say we believe. The Christian life is a proactive life.

Loving those who hate us is only possible if we commit ahead of time to love. Our natural reaction when we are hated is to become defensive and to strike back. It’s only when we anticipate that hatred will come at times, and decide long before it arrives to meet it with love, that we have any chance of sowing love where hatred exists.

I would love for my life to be defined by peace, love, forgiveness, hope, light, and joy. But the only chance we have to embrace those things is to determine ahead of time that they will be our goal. An amazing thing about proactivity is that it eventually improves our reactivity. When we embrace joy and love and forgiveness over time, it begins to be our new normal. When that happens we are more likely to handle those unexpected challenges that life throws at us more effectively.

The post Let Me Bring Peace first appeared on Michael Ramsey.

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