Back to the Basics

I think Christians, including myself, tend to complicate Christianity. 

It can become just a long list of dos an don’ts and confusion.

God has been whispering these two words to me: Love. Serve.

That’s it. That’s what Christianity is.

Love God. Love people.

Serve God. Serve people.

We’ve all heard the Scripture … “Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” That’s an easy one. Once you grasp who God is and what He’s done for you, loving Him is easy.

Now, the loving-people part can be a little more difficult and tricky. I’ve come to learn that loving people gets easier once you understand what God’s command for us to love one another is all about. He didn’t say anything commanding us to like everyone, be best friends with everyone, hang out with everyone … He just said “love.”

When you truly love God, loving people is easier. Because the love He wants us to have is about showing care and compassion for others, desiring the best for them, helping them, and wanting them to have a real relationship with God. That’s the love that God wants us to have for others.

But, God goes even further …

Not only are we to love, we are to serve. That requires us to die to ourselves, die to our own desires, die to our (hard one here …) pride. It requires us to put the needs of others above our own needs when society says we should put ourselves first. I mean, we deserve it, right? We work hard. We’re busy. We have lots of stress in our lives. Our needs should be first and foremost. Unfortunately, that’s not what God thinks.

Don’t get me wrong. I do like to have time for me. We all do. But, we should be at a place in our lives, as Christians, where the needs of others should always trump the needs of our own.

When you search the Scriptures, every time we are given instruction on how to live, it always comes back to two things: Loving and Serving. And, when you truly love, you serve. It’s not like they are separate entities. Serving naturally flows out of loving.

My prayer has been over the past several years that God would continue to put in me a true love for people. To see them with His eyes. And, if I could see them with His eyes, I would adore them.

God, help us to see others with Your eyes and love them with Your heart.