To Love Well (Part One)

"I feel there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people." - Vincent Van Gogh

     A lot of us here are artists of some sort. An even greater portion are introverts, and the art we do takes a lot of our time and energy. With art, there is no definite arrival. There is always something else we can do, and let's be honest, we get swallowed in our passions, stuck in our creations. Who are we kidding? The act of creating and the creations appeal to us more than the outer world. 

     

     But what if we viewed our art as something more than the books we write, the visions we create, the music we make? What if we viewed our life as the art and those things we create as the means to better prepare for the tasks God gives us outside our hobbit holes? The tasks we are given in life are important, but what is the second greatest commandment given to Israel? 

     

      “You shall love your neighbor as yourself...” -Leviticus 19:18b (NKJV)

     Maybe Vincent Van Gogh was onto something. We are artists with pen and paper, with words and music and color, and that is noble and God-given, but what if our greatest artistic work is the love we learn to give others? 

     Love is the hardest thing to do. 

     “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” - 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 (NKJV).

     In the KJV, they use the word ‘beareth’ which in Greek is a term stemming from a verb for the term ‘roof’. So instead of the image of someone carrying around a huge burden on their back, ‘love bears all things’ should create an image in our minds of us being a roof, a shelter over others. 

     It seems impossible, doesn’t it? How do we love another, especially in times of grief and deepest hurt when this strangely artistic but broken love is needed most? 

     You know that book in the bible where God lets Satan take away a bunch of stuff from a guy and then there’s a lot of chapters of talking and you feel a bit confused at the end? Oh yeah, Job. Towards the beginning of the book, after everything has been taken away from Job, his friends show up. 

     “So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great” - Job 2:13 (NKJV)

     Think about that. They sat with Job in silence for seven days and seven nights. Honestly it would probably have been better for him if they had kept silent because when they started talking, they were going to fix his situation by fixing him. They said a multitude of words that meant nothing because they could not see the whole picture. Then there was Job's wife that told him to curse God so he could just end his misery. This story is a good lesson, not just in trusting God’s character in all situations, but also what love doesn't do when someone is hurting. 

   

      So the whole 'you've done something to deserve this' isn't the right way to go about this artistic love? What is the right way then?

     I can't think of any Jesus lover who doesn't want to one day lead another individual to Him. We want to be a small part of saving someone else's soul, and so when we know someone who isn't a Christian, we imagine going into battle for that person's soul. 

     But what about our brothers and sisters, our best friends? That intense caring for souls can't stop as soon as someone comes to Christ. We wanted to save a soul from utter destruction, but then we continue on our merry way with maybe a nudge deep down that something may not be well, you know, if people are anything like ourselves. What about the bruises and the crippling? Do we care then? There's more to be done for a soul than just simply pointing it towards the path of salvation. 

     I know, when all is said and done, we can't be someone's salvation or make someone else's decisions for them. But if there is a chance for us to fight for them, for their souls, just till they catch their breath, just till they find their footing again, are we willing to do that? Are we willing to swallow them up with a Love not our own and give of ourselves? God can use us as a way to show someone His love, as a crutch to help someone go along their path for a little longer. 

     

     That's something we have to remember - sure, we want to fix the ones we love, and that's good and all, but we can't sew them up with feeble human hands. If we can't, there's no reason for us to be here, right? Hold up, they don't expect us to fix them and God certainly doesn't. 

     Sometimes it is enough to simply sit beside them in silence. To sit beside them in their darkness and become intimate with their brokenness, but do we dare?

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This is my 100th post! And somehow I'm still here.