Love wins! Love wins?

Love wins! Love wins? What the heck does that really mean? I’m confused by so much of the obscure, hijacked language used today attempting to define and divide people. I feel like much of it is intended to paint people into a corner where who they are is generalized, simplified and dismissible. People are complex, and broad brushes don’t work well to categorize them. I avoid fuzzy terms like open-minded, tolerant, affirming, progressive and the like. What are you asking, anyway, and when I answer are you hearing what I’m saying? Are you trying to trap me? Define me? Confine me?

To me, at least, there seems to be a lot of polarizing issues in the wind today and efforts to divide rather than unite us as a church, as the church and as a country. A lot of forces appear to be bearing down in our culture with the aim to tear apart rather than heal us and bring people together. That’s a great tactic to use if you want people to over-value security at the expense of personal freedom, and as Christians with a mission these tactics can work well to cause people to shrink from involvement and engaging in the things God has called us to. We typically don’t need much encouragement to revert to a “holy huddle” or decry these “horrible” times and declare like Chicken Little, “the sky is falling.” (Does that hit home?)

As I write this the words of a Bob Dylan song come to mind. Dylan says “All I really want to do, is baby be friends with you.” That’s how we begin to engage our culture. Friendship. I know scripture says “friendship with the world is hostility toward God,” (James 4:4 NASB) but I’m not talking here about buying into a world system or adopting culture. Paul endeavored to be all things to all people (short of sin) to make spiritual inroads with them. We should too. Who else will?

Even though people may through clever, defining words try to “simplify you, classify you, deny, defy or crucify you”(Dylan), we can still follow Jesus’ instructions when He says, “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.” (Matt. 10:16 NLT) Live a little. Dare to live “dangerously.” Befriend and engage people who haven’t yet met Jesus. Think About It.