LoveWins!

Written by cycleguy on August 3rd, 2011

“All you need is love”…wah-wah-wah-wah-wah  (You know that sound from the Beatles recording) 🙂

“Love, love, love, love/the Gospel in a word is love…”  (From an ancient chorus usually done in a round)  🙂

You get the point.  But I promise you:  THIS. IS. NOT. A. REVIEW. OF. “THAT”. BOOK. NOR. A. CRITIQUE. OF. “THAT”. GUY!

Two weeks ago I wrote this post.  Last week I wrote this one. If you are reading for the first time, or need a reminder, I would encourage you to take a gander at them.  Today I want to introduce and talk about the #2 Suggestion the author gives for reaching this generation.  (Note: notice the word “secret’ was not used because the secret is that there is no secret).    Here it is:

WIN THEM WITH LOVE

I have lived in this part of the United States all my life.  I was born and raised in Pennsylvania (Go Bucs!).  I went to college in Kentucky.  I have pastored churches in Ohio and Indiana.  I wish I had a quarter for every time I have heard how far behind this side of the country is.  The joke used to be that it would happen in California six months to a year before it would hit us.  Clothing. Music. Actions.  Lifestyles.  (Even sin).  I reckon that had some merit, but it wasn’t completely true, even though we did tend to be behind a tad.

Am I wrong in saying that the church has often been like that?  Christian Music faced that accusation (and in many ways it was true).  Churches making changes have often faced that accusation (and in many ways it was true).   Someone has said, “When the church discovers cool, it won’t be cool anymore.” I got really tired of generations being pigeon-holed with chromosome letters.  You know Generation X, Y, Z and anything else researchers could come up with.  Baby Boomers. Baby Busters.  Baby Diapers.  I could not keep them straight.  The real problem as I saw it was this: there was/is no cookie cutter made that can put youth into a pattern and say, “This is what they are like.”

I did realize one thing though…and I KNOW I am not alone.  It really doesn’t matter what Generation you want to put a person in, what really mattered/matters to them is one question: do you love me?  Are you willing to take me as I am?  Are you willing to look past all my garbage and open your arms and heart to me?  I may be wrong in this, but I honestly believe that is what every person from every generation wants to know. So…yeah…love wins.  Love wins hearts.  Love wins over beaten-down lives.  Love wins and covers a multitude of sins.  One more thing: I happen to remember Someone saying, “By this will all men know you are My disciples if you love one another.” Case closed.

Any comments or thoughts you care to share?  I am willing to hear them if you are willing to share them.

 

28 Comments so far ↓

  1. Mercy says:

    I totally agree with you and you’re not wrong when you say that what really matters to every generation is love that takes us as we are. This post reminds me of JJ Heller’s song: What Love Really Means.

    • cycleguy says:

      Thanks Mercy. I have heard of that name but am not familiar with the song. Pretty sure it was not/is not my style of music. 🙂

  2. Jon says:

    Bill, completely agree with this post. I love that verse in 1 Peter. Love is powerful; it can break down barriers, and transform this generation.

  3. Dan Black says:

    This is such a true and applicable post. Love will win out. If people see how much we love them they will keep coming back no matter how cool you might or might not be. Thank you for sharing such a relevant(I had to use it:) post.

  4. Moe says:

    Jesus did say that he will measure our love based on how we love our neighbor… so yeah, Love is critical in this pilgrimage.

    I have no beef with that. I do struggle with loving my enemy. Yeah, that’s sort of hard. :/

  5. The most powerful relevant force on this planet (and universe) is His love…it changes everything and everybody it touches.

    Love means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all. –G. K. Chesterton

    • cycleguy says:

      You are so right jay. No need to talk about relevance when we are loving as we are supposed to. Like the quote and it is always good to have you visit.

  6. Stan says:

    I feel like you’re preaching a mini-sermon here my friend. That’s a lot of passion. I can hear it in the words. Very cool thought and I totally agree with you. You are behind. hahah Not really. The “love wins” thing. It is absolutely true. Great post and thanks for sharing with such passion.

    • cycleguy says:

      Preach? me preach? Pfft. 🙂 Thanks for recognizing the passion Stan. I firmly believe this with all my heart. I am not the brightest lightbulb in the store, nor can i remember everything I am supposed to do to be relevant. But i can love. As can you and all the others. Thanks for your encouraging words.

  7. lindaM says:

    Hi Bill,
    I looked up in my concordance the word ‘love’. Here’s what I found.

    What we are to love:
    love our neighbor as ourselves
    love God
    love his name
    love his salvation
    love wisdom
    love good
    love the truth
    love your enemies
    love mercy
    love your wives
    love the brotherhood
    love the brethren
    love one another
    love God’s testimonies and commands

    What we are not to love:
    the world
    our lives

    My belief is that we cannot do what God has asked of us through the strength of the flesh. We must have the Holy Spirit. He is the one who will accomplish love in us as we work with him and obey God’s word. It is apparent from the above list that loving the sinner is just one of many thngs we are to love. In my mind loving the brethren or loving others in Christ is far more talked about and taught in Scripture than loving the outsider.

    • cycleguy says:

      Looking at the list gives proof to what you say Linda. We cannot do what God has asked in our flesh. I also believe we are to love each other, as well as the sinner. Thanks.

  8. Rob Shepherd says:

    Great stuff. I agree. I worked at a traditional Baptist church while in college. The average attendance was 120. 25 to 40 of those were college students. At the time it was the largest college ministry in the Southern Baptist Convention of Virginia. It blew me away that college kids would go to this church. They went because they were loved. They had an adopt a college kid program. Older couples took in college students, fed them, and did their laundry. It was amazing! Love is what won them over.

  9. Yeah, so many spend so much time and energy trying to “crack the code” of how to reach this or that group or generation. Like you said, there is no secret and there is no code, but if we acknowledge that, we couldn’t waste so much money on books, programs, marketing, etc. Wait, why is that a bad thing? 🙂 Thanks Bill.

    • cycleguy says:

      I love your words jason: “crack the code.” Well-stated! Love your “humor” as well. I most certainly agree. Thanks for adding to the discussion.

  10. Also, this: Love listens. That’s why you don’t need to be up on the latest movies or post-modern theory to understand the next generation. Just spend time listening to the next generation and you’ll get to know them. That’s what love does. That’s how love “grabs” other people.

    Because I sure don’t want love grabbing me any other way. I have personal space issues.

  11. Zee says:

    “Love one another” is a tough thing – because that implies loving no matter what. God’s love killed Him (granted, it also resurrected Him)… It’s scary, but at the same time, it’s exciting.

    I might’ve shared this quote already, but it’s my all-time favorite movie quote. It’s from Jesus movie (the ’99 one with Gary Oldman as Pilate)… Jesus invites Matthew the tax collector to follow Him and Peter rebukes Him saying “Jesus, he’s our enemy, the enemy of Israel…”

    Jesus looks at Peter, “You are a strong man, Peter. Are you strong enough to love?”

    Every time I watch that movie, that phrase stands out and I get shivers… because so often I feel as if I am not too strong to love.

    Yet He is…

    • cycleguy says:

      That is a good quote Zee. And a good question to ask ourselves. By ourselves the answer is No. But in the power of the Spirit, the answer is Yes. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. 🙂

  12. Larry Hughes says:

    Love is a great thing and I heartily endorse it. However I find it hard to love some one that just dumped over several dozen nails all around my car an tires which indicates His intention to inflict possible death and bodily damage to me if one of the nails stuck in the tires.

    I find one’s reason to be angry because one fails to pay three months past due rent and gets evicted over it to be a poor excuse for retribution.

    I will certainly show love for this one’s sorry back end as he is carted away for vandalism and wreckless actions that could have caused bodily injury to me.

    • cycleguy says:

      There are definitely times where loving is harder than at other times. Glad you found those nails before you started driving. Take care Larry.

  13. Lori Devine says:

    I have the honor of having some wise mentors in my family and one of my favorite sayings they use is: “Love always points the object of it’s affection in the direction of truth.” So true, we love our kids so we discipline them. We gently restore them to truth. Love can be such a learned thing, when we first believe we go at people with all of our gusto and say stupid things, but thank God for His gracious Spirit as He teaches us. I have come to realize that forgiveness is so important because a Christian might be a different person from one day to the next, as God changes us-that is, if we are willing to listen! P.S. so glad you didn’t promote “that guy” or “his book.” 🙂

  14. Ed says:

    I had an old saying…evil wins every time, but love is not far behind. Sometmes it seems that evil is more and more present in this age, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ has survived and flourished even more because of it!

  15. love truly drives everything, even in ways you wouldn’t think. So many of our actions are just backhanded attempts to feel loved. Instead of looking at this as a weakness, we should look at this as a fact of life. It’s apart of our DNA.