Love Large Enough

by Hal Brady
 
Not long ago an associate pastor gave a children’s message to a large crowd of children at an 11:00 worship service.  Children were packed into every corner of the chancel area. She ended the brief homily by saying, “And God loves you and you and you,” pointing as she spoke in three different directions. Then she paused a moment to let the message sink in. During the silence, a child down at the far end of the chancel behind the baptismal font, toward which she had not pointed, said in a wee small voice, “What about me?”

Now, undoubtedly, that child represents a category of people that is larger than most of us imagine. I’m talking about those on the margin: the oppressed, the insignificant, the unnoticed, the obscene, and the different.

In an attempt to be inclusive, this article is about how God loves us all and how God calls us to love all other people. I am calling this writing, “LOVE LARGE ENOUGH,” and I want to point out a few characteristics of that kind of love.

First, love large enough is a different kind of love! Grace, undeserved love, isn’t picky. It doesn’t look for what is deserved. It doesn’t necessarily expect a response. It is love without regard to shifting circumstances, emotional states, or personal conscience. Grace is one-sided!  
 
Diane was every parent’s worst fear. By her own testimony, she grew up in a good and loving home. There were family outings, birthday celebrations, softball, dance classes, and even church. But for some reason Diane never felt quite okay, and somewhere in high school things got out of hand. There were drugs, stealing, alcohol, staying out late, and jail time. The family suffered much social embarrassment and was seemingly always in crisis. There was counseling, rehabilitation, tough love, tears, and prayers. But later when all these efforts had finally paid off and Diane was much better, she gave her own personal testimony to grace. She said, “When I look back on those difficult times what amazes me most of all is that my worst could not destroy my parents love for me.” Love large enough is a different kind of love.

Second, love large enough is a personal love! We simply cannot love in general nor can we love by categories. We cannot love by legislation or decree. We can love only a named person who has a past, a present, and a future. To me, one of the greatest verses in the Bible includes this phrase, “…and he calls his own sheep by name…” (John 10:3). It almost makes chills run down my spine when I think that God knows my name. God also knows your name. And God wants us to love each other by name.  
 
It is reported that when Alexander Fleming, the man who discovered penicillin, planted bulbs in his garden he planted them in such a way that when they bloomed, they spelled the name of his friends. When the flowers came out, he invited his friends to visit him and see their name growing in colors in his garden. Imagine their joy at seeing that. What a unique way to remember a friend! Love large enough is a personal love. 

Third, love large enough is a content love! We are not talking here about greeting card sentiment, as nice as that may be. A woman visited a newspaper editor’s office one morning hoping to sell some poems she had written. “What are your poems about?” the editor asked. “They are about love,” gushed the poet. “Well, read me one,” said the editor. “This world could certainly use a lot more love.” The poem she read was filled with starlight and roses and other sticky sentiments, and it was more than the crusty old editor could take. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But in all honesty, you are really missing the boat on what real love is about. It’s not moonlight and roses. It’s sitting up all night at a sickbed, or working extra hours so the kids can have new shoes. The world doesn’t need poetic love. It needs some good old-fashioned, practical love.”
 
Or as I would say: it needs love with content. Content means “whatever is contained in anything.” And the greatest example of content love is God’s love expressed in Jesus Christ. We see this content love most vividly in Jesus’ dying on the cross – a love that is attentive, accepting, practical, generous, extravagant, uncalculating, forgiving, liberating, reconciling, and persistent! Jesus put it like this, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34). So is God’s love, and I pray so is ours – a love large enough! 
 
Dr. Hal Brady is a retired pastor who continues to present the Good News of Jesus Christ and offer encouragement in a fresh and vital way though Hal Brady Ministries (halbradyministries.com).