Addicted to Love

I recently had coffee with someone who said, "I know you Christians aren't perfect...I just wish you didn't act like you were!". I could tell he meant it, from a wounded heart. He's one of the many who are trying to follow Jesus...trying to connect with a church...but as soon as his life got messy, he was unacceptable...at least that's how he was made to feel. After a short time he was trying to figure out all this Jesus... church... God... Christian... messy life stuff... out on his own. How lonely he felt. How sad that Jesus followers missed an opportunity to be a vessel of God's love to another human. Would Jesus have given this man more dignity than that? Would Jesus have found the time? Would Jesus be willing to walk through the messiness of life with him? With me? With you? If we take Jesus teachings and example seriously, the answer is obvious. "We are to love one another, as we love ourselves." Our identity should be "love". Even the Beatles got it..."All We Need Is Love". Robert Palmer sang we're "Addicted To Love". In the U2 classic song "One", it speaks of that craving of the human heart to experience "one love...one heart". It's one of the most basic human desires and needs. God made us this way, and it's good. God even says He is love. In a sense the very thing we crave, is perfect love, found only in God and through people surrendered to His love. In the bible, in the book of Acts, chapter 2 it says that everyone could see how much the followers of Jesus loved each other. Since God by definition "is love" according to the bible, then this "love" thing should be one of our highest priorities. At ECHO we truly believe those words...not as suggestions...not as mere words...but as "essential truths" we are to live out in real and tangible ways. Love by nature is "relational", you need someone else to express love to, or to receive love from. Our love relationship with God is relational by design, as is our relational design to live in "love" with our fellow human beings. A look at how God describes His love is seen in 1Corinthians chapter 13, verses 4 through 13...it describes love as being: patient, kind, it does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, is not rude, is not self seeking, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres...love never fails! If God is love, then perhaps you may want to read that scripture as "God is", and then you'll get a great glimpse of who He is, and who He desires us to be. Galatians chapter 5 verse 22 and 23 speak of the "fruit" of God's Spirit in us...the result of His Spirit growing in us, and through us; "the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control". Notice how many of these qualities of love are best expressed in relationship with other people. Yes, part of God's design is that we become more like Him as we love others in cooperation with the guidance and direction of His Spirit. Not only is that the love our world needs...and craves...it's a love that we all easily can be addicted to...in a good way! At ECHO we want to be a people "addicted to God's love" and "addicted to expressing His love to others" because we know those in our sphere of relationship, well enough to know, "Love Is All They Need".

be God's!
Brian O
Lead Pastor dude, ECHO