Christian Living

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Love is a dangerous thing. Even the imperfect love known by men, like that of friends, family or between the two genders is dangerous. It is no less the case when it comes to the love God wants us to have for one another. It got Jesus killed. It takes a god to endure that kind of love, as we see when He rose from the dead.

It is heartbreaking when we hear stories of Christians who get wounded in their attempt to love biblically. On an emotional level they get killed. As I write this it occurs to me the question, “Why is it so dangerous to love as Jesus commanded?” When one thinks about it the only way Jesus could have avoided the danger He went through would be if the world He faced responded in kind. Fantasize with me: He comes to a world that receives Him, welcomes Him and loves Him as He does them. Result: no crucifixion.

Even His apostles and witnesses could have avoided the danger if they were met the same way as in my fantasy. That is probably why so many Christians today get “burned” because they are not responded to in kind. Their love is met with something less than godly. It disheartens me when I hear a sister or brother talk about how they were once “burned by love”. What really burned them was not love at all, at least not the agape love of the Lord. What burned these victims is a selfish, carnal love; the love that killed Abel and provoked Peter to deny Jesus. Pure agape love is the enemy to the kind of love that molests children, rapes women and manipulates or even murders a human being. The pure love that Christians are to emulate will always be in danger while sin abounds in the heart of man.

Then I recall that while sin abounds, grace abounds so much more. It seems that the grace of God that saves a man can be the answer to the danger I describe here. If both the lover and its object are walking in grace then the danger will be non-existent, or at least reduced. I believe this was behind the comments made by Jesus’ disciples when they exclaimed, “Who then can marry?” because they saw the need for grace along with our natural tendency to resist it; to be unreceptive the answer of grace. Hence the danger continues.

So, the life of an obedient Christian will be met with danger. If one is living a safe life it is probably because of the absence of that force that was present with Jesus and the believers of the first century, that force of divine love famously described in 1 Corinthians 13. In that sense it is understandable that those who present danger to the true believers of Christ do not respond in kind to them. If one does not believe in the love of God they will live in opposition to that love. The non-Christian will always be the agent of danger for the obedient follower of Christ.

Then I begin to wonder: what about those who call themselves Christians yet, in practice, endanger those who biblically love? If beliefs are demonstrated by lifestyle what can be reliably stated about these persons?

Who then is really in danger?

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