Disciples of Love -> Disciples of Christ

I recently looked at a myspace profile of an old high school acquaintance and saw something that caught my eye. This particular person, in place of the usual religion labels, opted for the simple line "love is my religion". Disregarding the song it was pulled from, it seemed to me that this little line on a myspace page said a lot about how we "the church" are perceived and have damaged much of true Christianity in the west. Don't get me wrong, this is not yet another tiresome smear on the church but merely an acknowledgment of my own failings which I think others may share. Following this myspace encounter I was reading a book titled The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus's Essential Teachings On Discipleship authored by Dallas Willard, and this little story jumped out at me.

"Some time ago I came to realize that I did not love the people next door. They were, by any standards, dangerous and unpleasant people-ex bikers who made their living selling drugs.

They had never tried to harm my family, but the constant traffic of people buying drugs, a number of whom sat in the yard while shooting up, began to wear down my patience. As I brooded over them one day, indulging my irritation, the Lord helped me see that I really had no love for them at all, that after "suffering" from them for several years I would secretly be happy if they died and we could just be rid of them. I realized how little I truly cared for nearly all the people I dealt with throughout the day, even when on "religious business". I had to admit that I never earnestly sought to be possessed by God's kind of love, to become more like Jesus. Now it was time to seek". 

This may seem like a load of liberal pacifist hippie nonsense but the more I meditate on what it means to truly follow Christ the more this story resonates within me, and convicts. 

"For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect". (Matt. 5:46-48 ESV). 

After reading this scripture I saw just how limited I am when it comes to loving people, whether in a romantic relationship or with friends and family. The human capacity for love extends only just past our sense of self-worth and pride. I know this because I have been both the perpetrator and victim of this limited love just as everyone else on earth has been too. This is where my friend's myspace page comes into play. While she herself is not a Christian, she has this idea, albeit an incomplete idea, that there is something special about love. She longs for it. She seeks it. She knows that it is essential not just to live, but to even exist. She knows all of this to such an extent that despite her bad run ins with the organized church and its followers, she has listed love as her religion; as what she chooses to believe in and base her life on. This I think is what we all long for. Love. Forever lasting, passionate, vibrant, powerful, and beautiful love. But we miss the point so often it seems.

We seem to talk a lot in our evangelical churches about how we "have Christ" or how we have "accepted Jesus". There is nothing wrong with this but as I keep studying what biblical discipleship should look like I am becoming very worried. I am worried that we have blown it. Yes, we have Jesus the risen savior, but we ignore so much of what he has commanded especially in regard to love. In fact, I would wager that for someone to really follow his commands in our current church culture, they would be labeled one of two or possibly both of the following: Radical/liberal. Its interesting how we are so quick to label someone a Jesus freak for handing out tracts yet when we see someone in the church engaging social problems or talking to our society's criminals (sinners) we write them off as out of the ordinary and almost in opposition to our "Christianity".  

Maybe this just sounds like an arrogant rant, and if it does please let me know and we can discuss it, but the last few months has really been a time in which God has convicted and stretched me in regards to what it means to be a disciple. I want my friend, whose myspace I was on, to be able to look at me and know that I love her and that the love I have is a love that will never be destroyed because it is not of me. I want her to be able to look at Christians and feel love that will direct her to Jesus. There is nothing more freeing that abandoning all hope and sense of self-worth to Christ, and loving others. Please let me know what you think. I pray that God will guide and direct us to become true followers so that the "radicals" will be those not engaged in love rather than those who are.