There are times that Christians likely try too hard to stand up for... well, fill in the blank. I've been reading Brennan Manning lately and his offering, "The Furious Longing For God." Manning argues (convincingly I believe) that Christ was quite serious when He spoke of what would be the marking of a true disciple of Christ. That would be love in case you're wondering. Yes, I could provide the book, chapter and verse but it's past 1 in the morning and I'm a little lazy.
Manning is often criticized by talking too much about love and not enough about sin, judgment and hell. There is a tension for me as I read his work because there's a part of me that says, "but what about..." well, fill in the blank. It's that piece of me that has it ingrained that to be a follower of Jesus is to uphold the moral standard. If you've never read any of Manning's work, don't get me wrong, he is not a feel good, postmodern hippie looking for a tree to stroke. His words are challenging, beautiful and absolutely terrifying at times because he speaks of true discipleship and calls his readers to take Christ's words for what they are: truth and not just bumper stickers for southern gospel conventions.
Wouldn't it be a treat to be criticized for talking too much about love and loving too much?
"Mercy, there's a word you can drown in every moment." Remember that Mallonee guy I made mention of in the first post, well that's his line. It's haunting because it's true and it's the call of the follower of Jesus since mercy is the kissing cousin of love. Two things. First, I don't know of emotions can actually be cousins and second, I have no proof that they have actually kissed or even held hands for that matter. But I believe they have shared a long glance from across a smokey room filled with sinners and saints and all the beginners.
To wrap up this rant, I'm tortured with trying to understand faith and its relevance in our world. But as I continue to understand what the fundamentasl of faith are I have to start with Love. I'm not sure how many stories my faith house will have but if I don't have that foundation correct, what's the point? Really, what's the point?
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