Love is Risky

Earlier today, my dad wrote a post on Facebook about how we perceive the poor. Specifically those who panhandle. In his post, he made the point that we are all saved by grace. Despite the fact that we would like to think of ourselves as far more deserving than those who society looks upon with great disdain, we are in fact still just as in need of a savior as those holding signs on the side of the road. We can rationalize away about the bad choices we have made, but in the end, we are all nothing without God's grace. My dad wrote, "So when I look at the poor beggar, I’m looking over, not down."

And this got me thinking. What if everything that people use to rationalize not helping the poor is true. What if they really are lazy? What if they really are abusing drugs and alcohol? What if they actually are handed enough money to live comfortably enough for them and as a result, they never feel the need to change? Does this mean that God doesn't want us to help them?

I imagine God dressed in a suit sitting behind a desk up in heaven answering, "Oh, no, that one is especially lazy! He smells of alcohol, and *gasp* he hasn't been to church in years! Nope. Nope. Nopity nope. We here in heaven don't help people unless they're perfect, so pay them no mind". As you exit his very corporate office, the clacking of a Newton's cradle seems to say "don't let the door hit you on your unholy posterior on the way out".

While that was meant to be a joke, sometimes I feel like that is how we view helping the poor. As if when we are urged to give to the poor and needy in the Bible, that there was some sort of stipulations clause in there with it. Matthew 5:42 says "Give to the one who you are sure will use the thing you have given for their actual needs". It says "Do not refuse the one that would borrow from you and for sure give back the item they borrowed." No! It says explicitly to give to the one who begs from you. Straight up. It's in there! It's not even in parable form! So when did we start rationalizing who we do and don't give to? When did we decide that the risk of being taken advantage of or possibly looking foolish was a big enough reason to skip out on something that Jesus said for us to do?

See, when Jesus wrote this, I believe that he knew that the beggars were not always the best stewards.  He knew that some were caught up in some really messy situations that might result in the miss use of someone else's generosity. But isn't that what he came to earth and did? He gave the most valuable sacrifice to the greatest beggars that ever were... US. When he went up to die on that cross knowing for a fact that even though he was going to conquer every single sin that ever was, and even though he was going to drink full the cup of God's pure wrath for everyone that ever was or will be, he knew that there would be people that would completely reject him. Some people would flat out say no. Some people might have lived the most rebellious lives imaginable, but they still would be able to get to go to heaven! But Jesus loved, and he loved to the point of complete vulnerability.

Following Christ was never meant to be something that would shelter us.
1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 says, Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
 Love never ends.

That is crazy to wrap your mind around! If I am honest with myself, I find it hard to biblically love the closest people around me, much less the other people that I encounter. But Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God and then to love others. Truthfully, that leaves a lot of room for being taken advantage of. That means that there will probably be instances where someone who you have extended kindness to repays you with sarcasm. Some people will be fake and talk behind your back. Some people will take your love as weakness and put you down, but that is the way living for Christ is. It's risky, it's uncomfortable, and sometimes it doesn't even make sense. But we don't love because it causes people to treat us better. We love, because as Christians, that is our calling. This is our greatest commandment. To be fishers of men!

But this is no play time vocation either. This isn't kiddie stuff. I mean, I would really like to be able to say you should give because the person who you give to will use what you gave in the best way possible. It would be nice to be able to write a blog post about how popular you will be if you love, and- oh by the way- you will also change the world! But that is just not how it works. That's not the reality we face. The real action of love, if you look at how the Bible defined it, is really hard. If you choose to give to the one who begs from you, what they say is true. If you give to the man holding that cardboard poster, you might be taken advantage of. But that's the kind of love that God wants us to have. That is the calling we have on our lives. We are changed by God's love, and we leave what we have known, or thought we knew. Then we are truly free to live; having realized that it is always worth it to love despite the risk.