TXT3

[It's helpful to watch this 5 minute video of Penn Gillette that we used last Sunday before reading this post.]

There are a thousand ways per day that I subtly say “I hate you.” I don’t intend it. I probably don’t even really mean it. But it’s there. Sometimes you might pick up on it. Most likely not. But if I were completely honest with myself, I’d have to admit that it’s there.

And the thing is, I don’t really hate you. In fact, I don’t even think about you all that much. I’m far too important to myself to think about you, really.

When I’d rather berate you with how right my beliefs are and how wrong your thinking is – that’s a form of hate. When I’d rather show you the door  than ask you over for dinner – that’s a form of hate. When I choose myself over you – that’s a form of hate. And, really, it’s not that I hate you. I just like myself more.

Don’t we all?

I justify my hate. After this many years, I’m pretty good at it. If I just live my life right, surely other people will see how much Jesus means to me. If I copy enough spiritual quotes to Twitter or Facebook, then, of course, people will know that there’s a God who desperately desires them. I justify my silence with my actions, but my actions, often, hardly whisper. And in that justification is a form of hate.

I don’t want to hate you. I want you to know that there is a God. And that this God is far greater than you can imagine. And that this God, from His very depths, longs for you. It’s not just that He loves you, but He likes you. He appreciates you. He wants to help you, and guide you, and transform you into something wholly better, for the benefit of both yourself and the people around you.

And I can’t understand why, when I’m so convinced of this over-powering, over-whelming, over-sacrificing God, I wouldn’t want everyone to know about it? If my relationship with Jesus is the most important relationship in my life, why don’t I speak about it more often? Have I become that complacent and selfish?

Have you?