living loved

…truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. – Matthew 25:40

Jer and I have found a new favorite date night/dinner spot/place for great company. We love the quirky menu, ambiance, and eccentric owner. The more we go there, the more I learn about this place, the owner, the family, the menu – all of it.

During our most recent visit, we learned how much these lovely people do beyond the awesome kitchen. We learned how they take care of the least of these. We got to see a glimpse into their bleeding hearts for children and the people who can’t take care of the smallest and most innocent blessings they have. We discovered that if they could take just this county’s foster and need for adoption kids, they would, but they just simply can’t take them all. We also painstakingly learned that as they sat through the classes and trainings to do what they do, that “church” people were the ones who often walked away because “church” people didn’t want those kinds of “messes” in their homes. My heart stopped. This was their glimpse and interaction with “church” people.

Take a minute. Digest that story.

I was convicted. My heart aches for these children, too. My heart aches so much as I attempted to take a child in and then the door closed. My heart aches because I have also thought about my own children and how I would protect them from another’s “mess.” My heart aches because I want to share Jesus with these people, but at that moment, knew it was they who were showing me Jesus. My heart aches for the church.

There are several families around me who love Jesus and foster, adopt, and open their hearts and families to the most innocent and abandoned youth in our area. These families are beautiful and awesome and have taught me so much about what it means to love like Jesus. I stand in awe of their obedience to the Father. But this blog isn’t about them.

This blog is about us, the church, the ones who forget that God calls us to care for the widows, the orphans, the poor, and the needy. It is so easy to sit and listen and become spiritually fat instead of doing the hard work God calls us to do or only serve our specific building of believers without acknowledging the beggar at the door. God’s word says we are to be like rivers of living water that spill from within us (John 7) not ponds without any drainage to just sit and become stagnant. Unfortunately, for many “church” people this is what has happened.

I was challenged this week. I was convicted this week. There were many prayers storming heaven about my heart for people, for the church, our understanding of the church (not the building), and how I can better serve whom, when, and where He calls.

Rise up & wise up, my brothers and sisters. Let’s be the church He calls us to be.

XOXO, Loni