Why You Now Have Less Love

From today’s reading…

John cuts to the chase today as we pull from the opening of chapter one and then get into the opening of chapter two where John relays the message of grace, peace, and blessings “from him who is, who was, and who is to come,” then BAM! “The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand” is not happy with our lack of love.

What we are called to do is not easy.

We are not called to eat popcorn while taking in a smoke and laser-light show as we tap our feet to a multi-talented preacher man/guitarist/harmonica player with nice hair and veneers who tells us what we want to hear to motivate us to “dig deep” and “give until it hurts” so we don’t feel guilty about moseying on back to our 75” flat panels streaming Sunday NFL Package all day as we order Uber Eats and suck down craft IPAs until we pass out on the couch.

We are called to know our neighbor.

To serve our neighbor.

To love our neighbor.

That means getting out from behind your iPhone and looking the poor, the needy, the downtrodden, the hurting in the eye, seeing them, and letting them know they are seen.

That means getting your hands dirty as you mow their yard, paint their home, deliver their groceries, throw the ball with the kids with no dads at home, braid the hair of the girls with no mom at home, have the kids over for dinner when both parents are working late to make ends meet, bring a beer over to the guy who just got laid off and is losing sleep about how he’ll get by, invite the stay-at-home mom over for a glass of wine and “girl time” after months of lockdown, Zoom classrooms, and cabin fever.

Your love will grow exponentially when you do this because you’re just adding to your capacity and ability to love instead of losing love by screaming at strangers on InstaFaceTwitTube every spare moment of the day and night.

It’s not too late to repent and love, which is the only way to…

Stay the course. Keep the faith. Endure.

Now go sell something.