Love (Best of Blog Carnival)

Today I’m reposting the Carnival that had the most links. If anyone has something they’d like to add, feel free to add a link. I hope you enjoy what everyone had to say about Love…

Welcome to the One Word at a Time Blog Carnival on ‘Love’. As always it is a pleasure to host, and I’m excited to see what all of you will teach me this time around.

Please link your post on the widget below… thank you for your participation and support!

To read my post, just scroll down below the following links…

One Word at a Time… LOVE

“It is my heavenly Father’s job to judge, the Holy Spirit’s job to convict and my job to love.” ~ Reverend Billy Graham

After reading that quote from Billy Graham… that really could be the end of this post. He says exactly what needs to be said… and doesn’t mince words!

Can you imagine if we all lived by that philosophy? It would be amazing, and the world would be a completely different place to live… a world where we accept one another and show unconditional love to everyone… believers, non-believers, young, old, those who look like us… and those who don’t!

A friend recently told me about a book he read, “Love Is an Orientation” by Andrew Marin. He thought it was incredible, and when he told me what it was about, I was very interested to read it myself. The amazing part was… what I expected to get out of the book was learning more about the gay and lesbian community… what I actually learned was much bigger than that!

Andrew has completely submersed himself into the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) community in an attempt to close the gap between GLBT’s and Christians. The fact this is necessary is really sad and disheartening (amazing how much racism, phobias and stereo-types still exist today)… but his hard work and accepting heart are making a difference… this book has changed my thought process on many levels!

His main focus is obviously on the GLBT community, though as I read it, I also began to see how this could… and should… apply to every area in our lives where we find ourselves being judgmental and unloving.

Andrew has a unique approach and extremely wise words on narrowing the gaping chasms… I’d like to share some of them with you…

Pg. 87

The Christian wet blanket of suffocation that demands timely answers or spontaneous thoughts to accept or deny Jesus or some other Christian truth, without allowing the productive tension of just “being” with that idea in support and love, doesn’t build bridges: it ruins kingdom opportunities.

Pg. 88

The way forward with the GLBT community is not a debate on the Bible’s statements about same-sex sexual behavior but a discussion of how to have an intimate, real, conversational relationship with the Father and Judge.

Wow, what a concept… instead of trying to make someone change… we should focus on telling and teaching them about our Heavenly Father, and the love that He has for ALL of us!

This will hopefully allow opportunities for real relationships to be built with Him. It is our job to plant the seeds… then we must be patient and see what God does next.

Andrew defines love in this way…

Pg. 108

Tangible and measurable expressions of one’s unconditional behaviors toward another.

Pg. 109

Love is to be an action — not a word.

I was at the mall with my kids a few days ago and there were tons of teenagers ‘hanging out’. We were upstairs, so there were two sides we could walk down to get where we needed to go…

On one side there was a group of kids that were a standard looking mix… and on the other side was a bunch that was much more ethnically diverse. They were ALL being loud, obnoxious, and messing around!

I hesitated for just a moment as I thought about which side we should walk down… then I stopped and realized what I was doing and felt terrible. Would Jesus have given any consideration as to which of these groups to walk by?

Love is an action…

These are the words I believe are most important to remember. Actions always speak louder than words! When it comes to our spouses and/or our children… do we just simply say “I love you” and expect them to believe us… if so, is this enough?

Shouldn’t it be the same way with those family, friends, co-workers or strangers that cross our paths… those people we want/need to share the love of God with?

I’d like to leave you with this thought that Andrew wrote regarding authenticity…

Pg. 161

From moment one we must be genuine and authentic — there is no room for thinly veiled agendas.

In my humble opinion… those words sum it up perfectly. If we aren’t being genuine and authentic… what’s the point? If we aren’t being real and sincere, at some point it will become clear… then any ground we’ve made in our relationship with those we’re trying to reach will become moot… leaving them even further from knowing and accepting the love of God than ever before.

To be clear… this post is NOT about what I believe (or think you should) regarding sexual orientation… it is NOT about race or religion… what it IS about… LOVE!

What do your actions say about you? Is love a noun or a verb in your life?

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

Yesterday, the following song was sung during our church service. It hit me hard… and I knew it had to be included (with lyrics) in this post.

My goal is that those I come in contact with will know my love for the Father… as well as His (and my) love for them!

For those of us that claim to be followers of Christ… we should be known… By Our Love!

Tagged as: Acceptance, Andrew Marin, Blog Carnival, Father, GLBT, God, Love, Marin Foundation, Unconditional