A Courageous Love

"And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

"Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Acts 20: 22-25

Today’s Reading: Psalms 18-19; Acts 20:17-38

Wow.

Last year I went back with my Dad to Birmingham for a family reunion. In an earlier post I wrote about the hope that I found in this trip; hearing all of these stories about the great people in the civil rights movement from the mouth of a man who witnessed it as a child.

This passage immediately brought me back to that place.

What courage it must have taken for those men women and children to stand up for what was right? What courage must have been required to set out on a mission of peaceful resistance only to know that they would be met with violent hostility? What courage must have been required to get up every single day and fight for something that was systematically denied them; when it meant risking their lives?

Of course our elders of the civil rights movement aren’t the only people who have done this. Countless people have and continue to struggle against oppression and tyranny this very day for so many different reasons.

But when I read Paul’s final goodbye to those that he loved I stopped for a second and really asked myself… why does anyone go through this? Why take the risk when you will not personally reap the reward? I was still asking myself as I began to type these words and the answer was revealed.

Love.

Love is what makes us capable of the incapable. It makes the impossible possible. It challenges us to stand in the face of fear and gives us the sword and shield to vanquish it. It gives us the hope and faith to transform our today so that those who come after us will have a better tomorrow.

Love is God and God is love.

I believe that, not in a hokey, superficial kind of way; but rather, I believe that literally. It is the foundation of how I endeavor to live my life. It is the fuel for my dreams. The more I love, the more that the impossible seems possible. The more capable I am to fulfill the desires of my heart.

I try to imagine the love that Paul felt, that inspired him to keep going in the face of certain death. Is it a love that is out of reach to us?

No.

We have seen it written in our history books. We have heard tales of it that were passed down in our families and our traditions. As those carrying the torch of love into the new millennium it is not our duty to bring about some crazy radical change. It is not our duty to change any one specific law or change the hearts and minds of others.

Our duty is to love.

And as we act in love everything else will unfold quicker and more fantastically than we could have ever imagined. We cannot do it all alone; but with love, there is nothing we can’t do.

Stand up and fight for what you believe in. Fight for truth. Fight for your dreams. Fight for love.