Love Like Money

"We value people...we invest in people...relationships could be bankrupt...people are priceless...All economic metaphor. I was taken aback. And that's when it hit me like so much epiphany getting dislodged from my arteries. The problem with Christian culture is we think of love as a commodity. We use it like money...I used love like money. The church used love like money. With love, we withheld affirmation from the people who did not agree with us, but we lavishly financed the ones who did...but love doesn't work like money. It is not a commodity. When we barter with it, we all lose. When the church does not love its enemies, it fuels their rage. It makes them hate us more...The power of Christian spirituality has always rested in repentance, so that's what I did. I repented....I replaced economic metaphor with something different...That is, instead of withholding love to change somebody, I poured it on, lavishly. I knew this was the way God loved me. God had never withheld love to teach me a lesson."
- Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

In Donald Miller's recapitulation of a speech he had heard, he strikes at the very beginning of how our minds need to be transformed in order to be an effective communicator of Christ and His teachings. We know that "love covers a multitude of sins" but do we really practice that in our daily interactions with those around us? how about our interactions with those who we don't agree with? or those we dislike? or those who have hurt us?

What does it look like to lavish love on those around us, regardless of their "economic love status", from the depths of a heart that has first been loved by God despite our depravity?

Hopefully, as we mature as followers of Christ, we won't have to love in this way so intentionally, but it will become our very own nature. We won't even know that we're doing it - it will just happen.

For Starters...

I have a friend who lives in New York City. In New York, everybody takes the subway, or a taxi, because having a car there can be pretty inconvenient. So, my friend has a friend who was dog-sitting recently for some other friends. And while this girl was dog-sitting, unfortunately the dog died. After calling the owners and sharing the sad news, they responded lovingly and assured this girl that it was not a huge deal, they actually expected it to happen sometime soon. The couple had previously arranged for the dog's cremation at a their vet, so they told the girl where to take it. Well, she didn't want to just throw the dead dog in a taxi and drive across town, so she decided that a duffle bag would be the best idea and that she would take it on the subway.

While trying to get through the turnstile into the subway, she couldn't quite lift the duffle bag over in order to pass through. A gentleman nearby asked her if she needed help and she accepted. He asked "Gosh! this is heavy, what do you have in here?"

"Computer equipment" she hesitantly stated, with a half hearted smile.

The guy helps her get the bag onto the train and they travel two stops. At this second stop the man apologizes that he can't help her any further because it's his stop and he's got to get off. The girl turned to thank him for his help, when he punched her in the face, stole the duffle bag and ran off the train through the subway....