God and Basketball

I am currently reading a book by Erwin McManus called "Soul Cravings" and it is so good. Really challenging me to go deeper and it is changing my whole perspective on loving others. Just wanted to share this with those who are reading.

Entry # 16 God and Basketball

Love can never be simply between you and God. It can never be limited to that relationship. Jesus makes that clear. Love is more than the relationship between man and woman, no matter how extraordinary it may be. Love is ever expanding, Love always grows, not just deeper, but wider. Love always loves people more and always loves more people. Love calls us to community; love calls us to humanity; love calls us to each other.

When we belong to God, we belong to each other.

There are no outsiders. All outcasts are welcome. If it isn't enough of a gift to receive God's endless and unconditional love, it even gets better than that--he gives us each other. Our belonging to each other is not incidental, but absolutely essential. It was no one less than Jesus who said the proof of God is found in our love for one another. Where there is no love, there is not God. At the same time, if there were no God, there would be no love.

Jesus is telling us that without love, without genuine belonging, without power of authentic community, no one should believe that we have come to know God. This might be exactly why you have been hesitant to trust your heart to Jesus Christ. You've been to church, you've been around Christians, and you've been hurt by both. You've created all these intellectual arguments to justify your unbelief, but in the end, you've just been burned. Your conclusions may be wrong, but your instincts are right.

If God is at the core of something, if he exists at the hot, flaming center, what you're going to find is love. Jesus knew this all too well. He warned us against the trappings of hypocrisy. When those who claim to represent him are unloving, those searching for God might conclude he is as well. The problem, of course, is that we are all hypocrites in transition. I am not who I want to be, but I am on the journey there, and thankfully I am not whom I used to be.

A healthy community is not a place for perfect people.

That place doesn't exist. We are all flawed. If there was a perfect community, it would be ruined the moment I joined it. And it's easier to be patient with people when you realize they're being patient with you. When we don't come clean up front, it creates an unhealthy environment that leads to pretension and hypocrisy.

Strangely enough, the best opportunity for building meaningful relationships is admitting up front that you're not perfect and that you've got issues. Honesty is the only context in which intimacy can develop. For either of these to have a chance, there has to be trust. Love, no matter how you come at it, is a huge risk. It makes it easier for me to remember that God will never reject me because I'm not good enough and that any community that has His heart will embrace me as I am. Jesus invites us into community where imperfect people can find acceptance, love, forgiveness, and a new beginning.

Eventually, though, this will require you to have to take the chance and see if God can really love you through people.

We were playing basketball in the backyard, and after we were good and exhausted, I say down with a guy named Ben, who still had some serious questions about God. Most of our conversation revolved around whether Jesus is God or not. He was more than willing to embrace Jesus as a great teacher, philosopher, or even spiritual guru. He real hang-up was the divinity thing. After a while it hit me.

I just stopped everything I had been trying to do and said, "You're afraid God's going to burn you."

He looked up at me and said without hesitation, "Yes, that's exactly right." He went on to acknowledge that pain and baggage from his past definitely factored in to his present doubts.

We're all like that. Jesus knew this. When others hurt us, it becomes a reflection on God. If we risk entering a community that claims access to God and we find ourselves betrayed in the process, it becomes the fastest way to become a practical atheist. If religion can bring us to God, it can certainly take us from him. I can only hope that Ben, as he shares life with our community, will experience the presence of God through the love we have for each other and for him.