April 30
That One Matters
Thursday, April 30, 2009 @ 4:36 pm by Josh Burcham
Over the last couple of months God has had me on a journey to truly love Him and love others. Something all believers are commanded to do. It’s been a journey for me. A journey that has had it’s pains and its joy, but a journey that I wouldn’t change for the world.
In Matthew, Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is; it went something like this:
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment.39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:24-40
Side Note: Look at the religious persons response on Mark 12:32-34: 32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
I found it interesting that Jesus said, “…are not far from the kingdom of God.” Was that in reference to the fact that I can say I love God and love others, but until I do, they are just words said by a religious man and not a Christ-Follower?
I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: Jesus was asked which was the GREATEST commandment and He gave two! That tells me something: You can’t have one without the other! Don’t believe me?
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.‘ [Matthew 25:31-46]
Then Jesus said to those that didn’t truly love God.
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ [Matthew 25:31-46]
I am command to love Others. And not just those that will love me back, but those that will never love me or better yet, those that are out to get me, my enemies.
I’ve learned some things about love on my journey to love God and love others. One of them being this: the more I understand and experience God’s love for me, the more I am able to love others with Jesus’ love. The Bible is God’s love letter to us, from expressing His love for us through creation to Jesus’ sacrifice, He has a love for us that I don’t think we will fully understand or comprehend. God is love. Not a love that we find on earth. I think the closest is found in a love your spouse or child. But for me since I am not married and don’t have any kids of my own, I have found an expression of God’s love for me in God’s love for the lost. His desperate desire for me to be His. Let me share a story from Vince Antonucci’s I became a Christian and all I got was a this lousy T-shirt and a video I saw at my sister’s church.
“A few years ago my wife and I and our then five-year-old son and two-year-old daughter went to Water Country USA, a big water park not far from where we live. They have a bunch of huge kiddie pools. Each has slides and all kinds of fun stuff. We played in on ekiddie pool for a while. Then we walked about two hundred yards to the next one. My kids were repeatedly going down one big slide. My wife walked over to the other side of the pool where they had a big mushroom shower. Eventually my son, Dawson asked, “Where’s Mom?”
She’s over there by the mushroom water shower thing,” I answered.
“Can I go get her?” he asked.
“Sure,” I answered, “go ahead.”
About five minutes later I grabbed my daughter and said, “let’s go get Mommy and Dawson.”
So we went over to the shower. My wife, Jen, was still under it but all by herself.
I asked, “Where’s Dawson?”
She said, “What are you talking about?”
“I sent him over about five minutes ago.”
“I haven’t seen him.”
I started looking all over the kiddie pool. I didn’t see him. I thought, Don’t freak out, Vince, he’s here. Umm, blue bathing suit. I looked for blue bathing suit. No. Uhh, light brown hair. No. He’s in one of the slides. No. I screamed, “Dawson?”
It had now been over ten minutes since we had seen our son. I continued to look. Soon it had been over fifteen minutes. I started totally freaking out. Like hyperventilating freaking out.
The kiddie pool was sort of in a valley. I ran up the hill to the sidewalk so I could have a better view of the whole pool. I looked down. He was not there. My heart started racing. My throat clenched up. My head was pounding. I looked again. He was not there. I wanted to die.
I looked up the sidewalk to my left. No. I looked down the sidewalk to my right. No. I looked in the pool again. No. It had been twenty minutes. I looked up the sidewalk to my left. An I saw the flash of blue bathing suit amongst the hundreds of people. I squinted. light brown hair. I called out, “Dawson? Dawson!”
The blue bathing suit with light brown hair was about fifty yards away from me. I yelled, “Dawson?”
Finally, the child in the blue bathing suit with light brown hair looked up, it was my son. “Dawson!”
He saw me and his face went white. I ran towards him. He ran towards me and dove into my arms.
“Where were you?” I asked.
“I went to find Mommy,” he said. “I thought she was at the pool we were at before.”
I said, “You went all the way to the other pool by yourself?” I held him tight.
And suddenly I realized that what I had just experienced for a few brief moments must be somewhat like God’s entire existence. The Bible says that we are God’s dearly loved children. God love us even more than we love our own kids. And Jesus said that those without God are his lost children. Can you imagine God’s heart? If a parent feels as frantic as I did for my son when he was lost, can you imagine how great God’s concern must be for his countless lost children wandering around without him? If a lost son cause me tremendous pain, can you imagine what God feels?
That same love that he longs for his lost children with, He love me with. With an understanding of that type of love, I can express that same love to His children, lost and found children. This video rocked me on my butt. Yeah, it comes from John Wesley’s movement and the Methodist church, but there is truth being spoken. Listen to the end especial. He knocks it out of the park. The preachers name is Paris Reidbead, I believe.
Now to the title, “That One.” Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep and the man leaving hte ninety-nine to retrieve the one. We need to go after the one and show Him Jesus’s love as we love God. So that he can come to know Jesus!
That is my journey…that I’m still on. Join me.
