'Love the Unlovely'

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I’ve heard pastors say we should “love the unlovely.”

I think that means we should love people who repulse us in some way. But have we heard that phrase so many times that it has lost some of its meaning and become part of the Christian-ese Christ-followers sometimes speak?

When I hear those words, “love the unlovely,” I often envision someone watching television. A photo of a beggar, a sad-eyed child or a starving person appears on the screen, and while sitting in an easy-chair, the viewer decides to send funds to help “love the unlovely.” No muss, no fuss. Funds are needed. Sending money is good. It’s okay to love the unlovely from a distance.

Another scene I visualize when I hear the words “love the unlovely” comes together in my mind in this way: a vagrant enters a church sanctuary on a Sunday morning. People are singing as the inebriated bum staggers down center-aisle. Unlovely odors radiate from the “down on his luck” man’s rag-clad torso. Two ushers wearing coats and ties intercept “Mr. Bojangles” and his worn-out shoes before he can do any kind of dance, click his heels or “speak right out.” (Mr. Bojangles may have fared better if he had danced across a TV screen.) The ushers take the bum to a backroom, determine he’s too drunk to reason with and haul him to a mission or homeless shelter. Maybe the church could have done more, but it loved the unlovely enough to provide some help.

“Loving the unlovely” opportunities sometimes come to us through easily identified characters. But loving the unlovely can be toughest when the unlovely are people we know and love, or should love. The most challenging unlovely people may be relatives, coworkers or others with whom we have to interact. Sometimes, the unlovely are fellow Christians. And, of course, our “loving the unlovely” is complicated – it’s complicated because of the un-loveliness we discover in our own hearts when we begin to try to love the unlovely.

  

We, the totally depraved, who have placed faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation, need Christ’s power to truly love the unlovely.

Proud Accomplishment - Who Gets the Credit?

The accomplishment I am most proud of and thankful for is my “accepting Christ.”

Of course, some people say a person doesn’t “find” Christ – they say Christ finds that person. The recipient of salvation by faith in Christ may think he/she makes all decisions that culminate in his/her accepting Christ, but some people say many factors work to that end.

For one thing, no one “comes” to Christ unless God “moves” him.
Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him… ” (John 6:44 NASB).

Though I question what part I personally played in accepting Christ, I feel my conversion to Christ is my greatest accomplishment. If I had not accepted Jesus Christ when I was six years old, I’m not sure where I now would be – or if I would be living.

I seem to naturally and hereditarily drift into melancholy and self-doubt. Without Christ, would I have “given in” during my lifetime to a “what’s it all worth” feeling and “ended it all”?

My sometimes restless mind tries to trace feelings and actions to their roots. Faith in Christ helps me understand “fallen-nature reasons” for mankind’s record and my own history. The Word of God offers peace and helps me “discern,” or understand, the thoughts and intents of my own heart.

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12 NASB).

I believe Christ saved (and is saving) me from sin and its penalties. He empowers me to live an obedient and victorious life.

As a child, I heard the Word of God (the Bible), sensed my sinfulness and need of a savior and “believed on” Christ as that Savior. That has been my greatest accomplishment.

But sometimes I wonder this: Is that accomplishment really mine, or should I give God all the credit?

'I Need My Body'

A few years ago, I took a day off from the carpet manufacturing company where I work and sat in my easy chair with a small pillow behind my aching back. I kept thinking of things I could be doing if arthritis hadn’t acted up in my hips and lower back.

The day before, I had visited my doctor who confirmed with x-rays that I was almost in need of at least one hip replacement, and my lower spine had a touch of arthritic inflammation.

Anxious for the Lord to heal me and thinking of things I wanted to do for Christ, I thought, with some frustration, “Lord, I need my body to do your work.”

Pausing only briefly, I thought better and prayed silently, “Lord, I’ll try to be something for you and work for you no matter what shape my body is in.”

Alone, in the mid-day silence of my living room, I believe the Lord seemed to say to me, “I, too, need my Body to do my work. And I will work through it - no matter what shape it’s in.”

When Bunnies Grow Up

When we were children, my sister and I enjoyed owning a white rabbit.

Dad built a wire pen that stood on tall wooden legs and placed it against an outside wall of our barn, located near our house in rural Greenville, S.C. Our own “Peter Cotton-Tail, Hopping Down the Bunny Trail” scampered around his little cage and contributed to our happiness.

One day, as we worked and played near our barn, Dad ate an orange and gave some of the peelings from that fruit to our rabbit. I later walked past our long-eared prisoner’s cage and discovered our pet had “passed on.”

“Daddy! Our rabbit’s dead!” I called.

Mother, Dad and Sister hurried to investigate. Dad was embarrassed and guessed the dye in the orange peelings killed our snow-white nibbler.

Lianne McLeod, DVM, says rabbits are often acquired as pets at Easter time and end up neglected or given up for adoption. Bunnies grow up and need as much attention and care as dogs. Rabbits are not ideal pets for children, partly because rabbits often don’t like to be held or cuddled.

A friend of our older daughter, Janelle, gave her a rabbit named “Flower” and a cage when Janelle was in high school. I cleared a space in our garage in Southern Pines, N.C., and Flower and her big hind feet came to live with us.

Janelle appeared thrilled with her hop-along pet – for a few days. Flower seemed to abhor a clean pen. As soon as Janelle would tidy up Flower’s habitation and line the cage’s floor with clean newspapers, Flower would have a kidney spasm. Janelle soon found someone to take Flower off her hands. The upkeep had exceeded the enjoyment.

My wife, Carol, and I recently asked an older gentleman who lives alone if he owned a dog. “No,” he said. “I don’t want anything around my house that makes a bigger mess than I do.”

We once had a neighbor who wanted an “English garden.” Her husband paid to have rocks brought in and various flowers and greenery artistically planted in their yard. The garden had to be weeded, however, and our friends hadn’t counted on our local deer population routinely tasting their nice plants.

Beginning something is often easier than maintaining it.

I heard about an unmarried woman who gave birth to a baby. After a few months, she knocked on the door of the apartment where the baby’s paternal grandmother lived. “You take him,” she said. “I can’t handle it.” She left that child with his grandmother, who raised him to adulthood.

Moses was anointed to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. The Hebrews hailed him as a man of God as he directed them across the Red Sea on dry ground. His sister, Miriam, broke out her tambourine, and they rejoiced over the Lord’s deliverance. Soon, however, the Israelites lacked water and grew weary in the wilderness. Some wished they’d never left Egypt and complained to Moses, “Have you brought us out here to die?” Moses went from “hero to zero,” someone said.

Perhaps you’re a Christian who felt joyful when you realized the Lord Jesus not only saved you but gave you the privilege of finding fulfillment through some kind of ministry. Maybe you even “birthed” a ministry. Perhaps doors opened and you felt energized as people praised you for your vision. But the upkeep of your creative aspiration has become a burden. Perhaps you feel discouraged or depressed.

“Bunnies grow up and need attention and care,” Dr. McLeod said.

Some projects or ministries are started with little planning for “maintenance.” And some worthwhile ministries are only useful for certain seasons of one’s life. Joyce Meyer said, “If the horse is dead, dismount.”

But sometimes we give up too easily. A person’s lack of depth of character and “small strength” may cause him to quit when adversity comes. We should remember this: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9). And here is practical advice: “Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds” (Proverbs 27:23).

I think many of us spend the first half of our lives learning how to do many things and spend the last half of our lives figuring out how many of those things we need to quit doing. Our egos keep us “spread too thin” and stressed. We try to regroup and prioritize. We wonder how many things that call to us are “of God” and how many are “of self.”

Someone said, “Duties never conflict.” I’ve often wondered about that statement.

Jesus visited Martha and Mary. Martha busied herself preparing food and making sure Jesus’ visit went well. Mary sat and listened as Jesus talked. Martha criticized Mary, saying, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:40-42 NIV).

When my wife sees me worrying over many things I feel I need to be doing, she often says, “Steve, what are you meant to do, today?”

That statement brings me back to earth, and I pray for wisdom. Things important to God should be at the top of my to-do list. St. Paul wrote: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

“Bunnies grow up and need attention and care.”

Father, give me wisdom when I consider making commitments, and help me stick with commitments I’ve made that are important to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.