LOVE God LOVE Others

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July 14, 2025

Love, The Prime Directive

“Loving must be as normal to us as living and breathing, day after day, until our death.”  Mother Teresa

“Look at the cross and you will know what one soul means to Jesus.” Mother Teresa

“The difference between religion and Jesus is that religion makes a person feel guilty about his dirty feet and Jesus stoops down and washes them.”  Anonymous

This post aims to remind us all that love is and has always been the cornerstone and central precept of Christian faith. The solution of LOVE as one answer to the dilemma of the Christian church today may be received as underwhelming, even disappointing. Some may have been hoping for a more grandiose solution, or a more complex solution to address the complexities of modern life, or a more dramatic solution that calls for renewal or even reformation or awakening in the church. The solution of love may seem to some as far too elementary to bring Christianity out of the current malaise. After all everyone already knows about love in Christian faith, right? Many may say, “We are a loving church already, right?”

If these sentiments come to mind, please have patience. I was talking to a denomination leader and I made the comment, “The church has drifted from love.” He quickly responded, “I see a lot of love out there.” As I thought about his comment, from his point of view I completely understand and almost agree. In another conversation with a long time church member at a funeral of a church member. Defending the level of love in the church she said, “Look at this outpouring of love and care.” Again I almost agree.

In both of these scenes the people who were objects of love were people deeply imbedded in the church network. Yes, love and appreciation often flows abundantly for well known Christian leaders and for longstanding church friends. Obviously the ‘love meter’ was measuring love inside the church in both cases. My response to my dear friend at the funeral was, “Would my homeless friend that has attended this church about ten times receive the same outpouring?” My friend nodded with a new perspective. When the ‘love meter’ is placed outside the church to measure how the Body of Christ is loving the people beyond the walls the ‘meter’ reads quite differently. Hold this thought as you consider ‘Loving God and Loving Others’ as a critical Pillar of renewal.

Certainly everyone would agree we are ‘people of the book.’ Few steps could be more Evangelical than to turn to the Bible for a thorough review of the scriptures projecting love as the superlative precept above all. I am placing a listing of scriptures on the supremacy of love below this post in our blog page online.

Listen to John Wesley teaching on the ‘highest ideal’ of Christianity: “It is nothing higher and nothing lower than this, --- the pure love of God and man; the loving God with all our heart and soul, and our neighbor as ourselves. It is love governing the heart and life, running through all our tempers, words, and actions.” (Wynkoop, ‘Theology of Love,’ p. 277) 

Wesley said, “We see on every side, either men of no religion at all, or men of a lifeless, formal religion. We are grieved at the sight; and should greatly rejoice, if by any means we might convince some that there is a better religion to be attained, --a religion worthy of God that gave it. And this we conceive to be no other than love; the love of God and of all mankind; the loving God with all our heart, and soul, and strength, as having first loved us, as the fountain of all the good we have received and of all we ever hope to enjoy; and the loving every soul which God hath made, every man on earth, as our own soul. This love we believe to be the medicine of life, the never-failing remedy for all the evils of a disordered world, for all the miseries and vices of men. Wherever this is, there are virtue and happiness going hand in hand. (Wynkoop, ‘Theology of Love,’ p. 144) 

Love in the China Cabinet

It is likely while reading the ‘supreme’ scriptures on love and hearing the words of Wesley on love you could not help but reflect what place teachings on love had in your own spiritual journey. Everyone would be different in their reflections of course, but I would guess that most would say teaching about love was not the most significant theme in their discipleship process nor in their spiritual formation and journey. Some might point to the concept of grace on their salvation road and life as a Christian. Many other themes might surface as most significant to individuals, such as worship, or calling, or the Bible itself, or sin, or the Holy Spirit, or the gospel, and many more. 

In my reflections love was always vitally important to Christian faith and life. But it was like the fine china dish ware in my mother’s house. We could see it in the hutch behind the glass, shining so pristine, and clearly the decorative focal point of the dining room. But only about three times a year did we actually bring out those fine pieces and use them in a meal. They were highly prized but rarely used. It is quite possible this is the way the Christian teaching of love has been for many, love was placed on the pedestal of prominence, even supremacy, but rarely considered in daily Christian life applications. 

July 17, 2025

Wesley on the Centrality of Love

“Love God, Love Others” the life motto of John Wesley

To flesh out this idea that love is the center of all that is called Christian we will turn to the leader of one of the greatest awakening ministries in Christian history, John Wesley. Many realize that his ministry was one of the major influences in the awakening of England in the 1700’s and the 1800’s. Some also know that this Methodist ministry was exported to the new nation, the United States of America in 1784. 

Mainly under the leadership of Frances Asbury the Methodist movement became the most effective evangelizing force in the frontier and throughout the new nation. In the 1800’s the Methodist church was the largest church in America and their adherents outnumbered all other denominations combined by 4 to 1. 

Certainly, this is a strong affirmation of the culture and philosophy of ministry John Wesley had launched. With so much attention on other aspects of the Methodist ministry most do not realize Wesley’s personal motto was the heart of everything Methodist, “Love God, Love Others.” Here are thoughts from Wesley himself placing love at the center of all Christian faith.

Mildred Bangs Wynkoop is a Wesleyan Holiness Theologian. In her work, A Theology of Love, she speaks of the love center of the message which Wesley espoused.

“Love is so central to Christian faith that to touch it is to find oneself entangled with every element of Christian doctrine and life… Wesley’s discussions of any segment of Christian truth led him quickly into love. “God is love.” Every aspect of the atonement is an expression of love; holiness is love; the meaning of "religion" is love. Christian perfection is perfection of love. Every step of God toward man, and man’s response, step by step, is some aspect of love. Faith works by love. Ethics is the out flowing of love. To say that Christian holiness is our raison d’être (reason to be) is to say we are committed to everything love is, and that is a large order indeed. It is impossible to extract a doctrine of holiness out of Wesley and suppose that love may be discarded with impunity. Christian perfection, cut off from the aorta of all that love is, becomes sterile, cold, dead, incredible. (Wynkoop p. 21)   

Listen to this:

Wesley wrote answering the question, “Who is a Christian?” It is easy to see he raises the bar to the ultimate rather than diminishing the criteria to the absolute minimum as is common today.

Above all, remembering that God is love, he, the Christian man is conformed to the same likeness. He is full of love to his neighbor, of universal love, not confined to one sect or party, not restrained to those who agree with him in opinions, or in outward modes of worship, or to those who are allied to him by blood or recommended by nearness of place. Neither does he love only those that love him, or that are endeared to him by intimacy of acquaintance. But his love resembles that of him whose mercy is over all his works. It sores above all these scanty bounds, embracing neighbors and strangers, friends and enemies— yes, not only the good and gentle, but also the forward, the evil, and unthankful…(Wynkoop p. 30)

Jump to the blog web page to hear Wesley finish. Click the graphic below.

Also find the superlative love scriptures just below Today’s Post.

www.anakainosisforthechurch.com/today-s-post/

And this universal disinterested love is productive of all right affections. It is fruitful of gentleness, tenderness, sweetness, of humanity, courtesy, and affability. It makes a Christian rejoice in the virtues of all, and bear part in their happiness, at the same time that he sympathizes with their pains and compassionates their infirmities.  It creates modesty, condescension, prudence, together with calmness and evenness of temper. It is the parent of generosity, openness, and frankness, void of jealousy and suspicion. It begets candor, and willingness to believe and hope whatever is kind and friendly of every man, an invincible patience, never overcome of evil, but overcoming evil with good… This is the plain, naked, portraiture of a Christian. (Wynkoop p. 30) 

Listen to Wesley speak about love and the heart, the relational key of Christianity:

Love is the end of every commandment of God. It is the point aimed at by the whole and every part of the Christian institution. The foundation is faith, purifying the heart, the end love, preserving the conscience. (Wynkoop p. 31) 

In the same Wesley sermon [Circumcision of the Heart] observe, “Love is the fulfilling of the law, the end of the commandment.” It is not only “the first and great commandment,” but all the commandments in one. . . The royal law of heaven and earth is this, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and mind and strength.” I concluded in these words: “Here is the sum of the perfect law, the circumcision of the heart.” (Wynkoop pp. 8-9)

It were well you should be thoroughly sensible of this, “The heaven of heavens is love.” There is nothing higher in religion; there is, in effect, nothing else; if you look for anything more than love, you are looking wide of the mark, you are getting out of the royal way, and when you are asking others, “Have you received this or that blessing?” if you mean anything but more love, you mean wrong; you are leading them out of the way, and putting them upon a false scent. Settle it then in your heart, that from the moment God has saved you from all sin, you are to aim at nothing more, but more of that love described in the thirteenth of the Corinthians. You can go no higher than this, till you are carried into Abraham’s bosom.” (Wynkoop p. 14) 

July 21, 2025

Everybody matters or nobody matters

   --- Harry Bosch TV character by Michel Connelly 

Christianity has long held that all creation is prized in the heart and eyes of God. 

This is a foundation stone that cannot be overlooked or taken for granted as the church moves toward renewal. Every person is created in the image of God. (Gen. 1:26-28) Every person has received the breath of God. (Gen. 2:7) Every person has an eternal soul. (John 5:28-29) Every person is a created masterpiece of God. (Ps. 139:13) Every person is known of God. (Ps. 139:1-3) Every person is especially loved by God. (John 3:16) And every person is someone for whom Christ died. (1 John 2:2) 

We can look at human history and even Christian history and see there have been many seasons when these truths have not been cherished and have not given guidance to the work of the church. God’s special heart for every human life must be bathed into the mind, heart, and psyche of all who will walk in the steps of Jesus. (See Acts 17:24-27) 

In the economy of Christ the alcoholic whose life has been wrecked by addiction stands in the same gaze of divine love and mercy from Father God as the president of any significant corporation with all the prestige attached. The abounding unconditional love of the Father must be restored as a central truth and a living breathing reality in the family of God.

Christian history shows that in seasons of awakening and renewal, as well as in local times of refreshing and revival the Body of Christ would often return to embrace this universal love and acceptance of humanity in its variety of expressions. Preachers love to say, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.” A common caricature shows the words below the face of a mischievous youngster, “God don’t make no junk.” And the prophet Isaiah speaks for God writing, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.” (Is. 49:16 NRSV)

Jump to our blog page and see how this can be applied to renewal for the church. Click the graphic below.

www.anakainosisforthechurch.com/today-s-post/

For the church to renew itself in the love and ministry steps of Jesus it must shake off attitudes that have been accumulated through the centuries from a fallen world. The phrases that follow are all too common in society. “They made their own bed, and they must lie in it.” “They have made bad choices and now they are reaping the consequences.” “There are plenty of jobs available these days. They just need to go to work.” “Why should the government have to support all of these?” “I have had some hard times, but I had to work my way through them on my own.” “I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps and they should too.”

Naturally the church of Jesus Christ rejects attitudes such as these, yet if we are going to mobilize the church in intensive loving ministry like Christ, we will have to admit some of our own hold such views. Diario Lopez Rodriguez said, “According to the testimony of the third Gospel, God has a special love for all those who have been condemned to social ostracism in the basement of history by those who hold economic and political power.” Rodriguez proposes that “at the heart of the liberating mission of Jesus are two non-negotiable themes, “the special love of God for the poor and the excluded, and the universality of mission.” (Rodriguez, ‘The Liberating Mission of Jesus,’ xiv.)

Howard Marshall holds that “Luke's Gospel emphasizes the special concern that Jesus has for those who are underprivileged, the poor, women, children, and those declared sinners.” In Luke 13 “Jesus denounces both the values of a society that had placed its religious prejudices and cultural practices above the value of human life, and he denounces the lack of mercy from the religious folk who considered themselves to be pious.” These biblical scholars believed that Jesus portrayed in Luke’s Gospel was proclaiming a kind of love that was so radical it appeared impossible to the Jewish leaders of his day. (Marshall in ‘Liberating Mission,’ p. 17, 21.)

I wonder if this kind of love and life could be called a ‘Jesus Revolution?” It certainly sounds revolutionary. 

July 24, 2025

‘Affectionate Knowing’

Love God and Loving Others Continued ---- 

Secular writer, David Brooks has a great description of biblical relating/knowing or as he calls it, “affectionate knowing”:

“This posture of respect and reverence, this awareness of the infinite dignity of each person you meet, is a precondition for seeing people well… I ask you to assume that the person in front of you contains some piece of themselves that has no weight, size, color, or shape, yet gives them infinite value and dignity. If you consider that each person has a soul, you will be aware that each person has some transcendent spark inside of them. You will be aware that at the deepest level we are all equals… If you see the people you meet as precious souls, you’ll probably wind up treating them well. (Brooks, ‘How to Know a Person,’ p. 26.) 

Tim Alberta reminds us, “Jesus commanded us to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. This is the recipe for reaching the unchurched. This is the recipe for convicting the unconvicted. This is the recipe for effecting change --- whether over abortion, or sexual ethics, or any other issue.”  (Alberta, ‘The Kingdom, the Power, the Glory,’ pp. 30-31)

When Jesus walked the Earth, he went out of his way to minister to the broken and the shunned. He showed mercy to the prostitute, the adulterer, and the tax collector. He showed favoritism to them because these were the people who needed him most. He showed affection to them, regardless of their lifestyles. This was disgraceful to the Jewish authorities, monitoring Jesus’ behavior. They demanded an explanation from his disciples. Why was their rabbi keeping company with such as these? ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick,’ Jesus responded overhearing their questions. ‘I have not come to call the righteous but the sinners.’ (Alberta, ‘The Kingdom, the Power, the Glory,’ p. 24)

Go over to our blog page and hear one person’s story illustrating these ideas. Click on the graphic here.

www.anakainosisforthechurch.com/today-s-post/

A friend of mine was telling about a trip he made to meet the extended family of his wife. They married later in life. When he got home he was sharing about the visit with other members of the closer nuclear family. After he had shared several instances of the visit one of the family spoke to say that wing of the family was a wild group. The implication was that he was glad this part of the family lived at a distance to avoid much association. My friend was piqued and responded that as he saw the life situation of these family members he felt it was a privilege to spend time with them, hear their stories, and show them dignity, respect, and ‘affectionate knowing.’ 

This incident in a small way illustrates the view of many Christians who want to distance themselves from questionable people, secure their lives in some safe cocoon, judge addictive and self defeating behaviors, and avoid all personal relating. On the contrary the model of Jesus in the Gospels was to take intentional steps toward such people, showing them concern, care, and acceptance. The Gospel itself naturally moves toward people in need bringing ‘Good News.’ Therefore people of the Gospel and followers of Jesus must renew their understanding that they are the ambassadors of Jesus and the bearers of this good news of hope, help, and heart healing. 

Christians today seem cautious at best about desperate people in need, while the model of Jesus reveals a magnetic attraction the broken and needy held for him. His ‘manifesto’ says it well:

18‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.’

Luke 4:18-19 NRSV

July 27, 2025

My Friend Ellis

 – Loving Others – Second Pillar

About twelve years ago God led me into ministry and service to people in poverty. I had lived in my town for over forty years and I was shocked to find that there was an entire side of my town that I did not even realize existed, the poverty zones. I had lived in middle class comfort and in my Christian bubble while doing ministry as well as I understood, yet I was blind to this part of town and the people there in desperate need.

After about five years of working and serving people in poverty Jesus seemed to ramp up my involvement. He began to bring me face to face with individuals that I felt he was calling me to befriend, walk beside, and become a part of their world. I have spent the last seven years walking with about twelve friends for lengthy periods of time, as little as two years and up to six. I began to understand there was a big difference between helping a person and becoming their friend to walk beside them indefinitely. My view of loving others as Jesus would and inviting them to be my brother as the family of God began to take on new perspectives and meanings. All of these friends in these seven years have been homeless at least part of the time I have known them. (Disclaimer: ministry to deep poverty is not for everyone.)

Today I spent a few hours with my friend Ellis taking him from his slum halfway house to the urgent care clinic. I have walked with Ellis for over four years. He has been homeless quite a lot. My wife and I have helped him move into public housing twice, move into an apartment, move into tent campgrounds, move into rehab centers, move into halfway houses, move into the city shelter, attend church, visit him in jail, trips to hospitals, carried dinners to him, washed clothes, fed Ellis in our home, take him to restaurants, encouraged him in addictions, gone to court with him, managed his money on occasion, grieved his failures, celebrated his successes, and mainly joined with him in life as our brother and friend. 

We feel the call to be ‘family’ and friend to Ellis. We believe this is an application of what it means to follow Jesus, to be ‘on mission,’ to live incarnationally, to love sacrificially, to serve, to live out the ‘manifesto’ of Jesus personally, and to attempt living the Four Pillars. I need to say not everyone is called to poverty service (ie., helping the homeless). But we do believe following Jesus means loving self sacrificial service to others Jesus brings to our lives. The Four Pillars actually define a disciple of Jesus; Imitating Jesus touching others, Loving God by loving others in self sacrificial ways, living in koinonia community with others and inviting hurting people to join the ‘family,’ and by living these we live ‘On Mission’ with Jesus to spread his kingdom of Love.

Perhaps everyone is getting the idea that the FOUR Pillars are solid biblical calls for those that will genuinely follow Jesus. But in addition to this Lena and I want to share that living by the FOUR Pillars guidance has become the most fulfilling life we have lived. There is a rich sense of satisfaction that comes with knowing you are helping someone. Living with a purpose that you know is eternal in impact is profoundly gratifying. Growing in relationship with someone and walking with them toward life transforming goals is so precious. This list of personal benefits could go on and on. So we will close with the declaration that following Jesus in his FOUR Pillars has been the most positive path we could have taken in life. Jesus is calling us all to join him in this life of loving service.

As this blog continues we will be sharing the stories of other friends we have made and joined in walking them toward stability, belonging, healing, and Jesus. 

Check our blog pages for all of our posts.

www.anakainosisforthechurch.com/today-s-post/

July 30, 2025

Apostle John’s Special Message on Love 

--- Pillar 2

Few would argue that love is the central tenant of Christian life as articulated by Christ and the Bible authors. Nevertheless from any scan of Christian history through the lens of love as a central focus, a dilemma appears. The moments have been rare when love was the supreme focus of the church or the most important criteria for living as a Christ follower. How could the most important precept of Christ’s teachings, clearly captured in the Gospels and affirmed in the Epistles, be relegated to the china cabinet of Christian faith? (See June 13, 2025 blog on the china cabinet idea.)

Fortunately the Apostle John was the Apostle of Love and many believe that the oldest living apostle was inspired to bring clarity and practical application to this dilemma with his first epistle.

Let me just give you the ‘bottom line’ of this post right up front:

The litmus test John uses for living under the canopy of God’s love is how we treat other people. We demonstrate our love for God by loving those God loves, the others. According to John, Paul, and Jesus our devotion to God is illustrated, demonstrated, and authenticated by how we treat people. In the new covenant we do not love God AND love our neighbor. We love God BY loving our neighbor. Ministry to real people in their time of need gives the church the opportunity to walk under the manifesto of Jesus and love God as we love others supremely. (Luke 4:18-21)

Now see how John arrived here:

The Apostle John gives us the phrase “God is Love.” (1 John 4:8) No pagan god had been identified as self-giving love. This was unheard of. The gods of the day were known for almost anything except loving others. A quick scan of previous cultures would bring the same conclusion. Consider the Babylonians, Persians, or even tribal societies like the Philistines and those surrounding Israel. All those gods were self-serving calling their subjects to sacrifice for them. Where did John get this concept that ‘God is love,’ seeing it was so contrary to what was known? (See Andy Stanley’s book, ‘Irresistible’ for a full treatment of this theme.)

John had seen it personally, first hand, in Jesus. He saw it as he observed Jesus love those he had never met, people that others ignored. He felt this love as he walked with Jesus and experienced this call into a new life of love. He had witnessed this love as he watched Jesus carry his cross and give his own life for all mankind. 

John remembered how Philip had said to Jesus, “Lord show us the Father and we will be satisfied.” (John 14:8 NRSV) That must have been frustrating to Jesus since he had just told the disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also.” (vss 6-7) We can hear the tension as Jesus responds to Philip, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (vs9) 

John understood now. They had all spent a few years of their lives walking with Jesus and experiencing the most amazing and life altering things. And from those years John was not hesitant to declare ‘God is Love.’ He had seen God through Jesus! And John knew God was love. 

In his epistle John gives the church some additional light on this concept of loving God and loving others. Religion always tends toward the vertical, looking toward deity. So the church has through the centuries tended toward the vertical of this Great Commandment package, “You shall love the Lord your God.” But in his letter John goes on to say much about the horizontal component. For many, even today, John is throwing a curveball at their interpretations of the Great Commandment and even Christian faith. Listen:

Jump to our blog page for the conclusion of John’s ‘new twist’ on loving God.

www.anakainosisforthechurch.com/today-s-post/

John said:  “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate a brother or sister, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” (1 John 4:20 NRSV)

“Whoever says, ‘I am in the light,’ while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling.” (1 John 2:9-10 NRSV)

“Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:11 NRSV)

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8 NRSV)

The litmus test John uses for living under the canopy of God’s love is how we treat other people. We demonstrate our love for God by loving those God loves, the others. According to John, Paul, and Jesus our devotion to God is illustrated, demonstrated, and authenticated by how we treat people. In the new covenant we do not love God AND love our neighbor. We love God BY loving our neighbor. Ministry to real people in their time of need gives the church the opportunity to walk under the manifesto of Jesus and love God as we love others supremely. (Luke 4:18-21)

Possibly the first step forward in renewal is a renewal of the ‘Love of God’ for the entire church of Jesus Christ. A renewal that can fill any heart and move it into loving action for the hurting and broken. All who will follow Jesus will be filled with compassion. (Mark 1:41) All who have the eyes of the Father will see hurting brothers and sisters, and girls and boys, as they look around their lives. (Luke 4:18) All who are led by the Spirit will experience the Love of God that is spread abroad by His anointed breath. (Rom. 5:5) All who believe will be led to the understanding John Wesley cherished, “Faith works by Love.” (Gal 6:5) 

Wesley wrote of this horizontal love. “It implies such a continual thankful love to Him [God] who hath not withheld from us his Son, His only Son, as makes it natural, and in a manner necessary to us, to love every child of man: as fills us with bowels of mercies, kindness, gentleness, long suffering.”  (John Wesley as quoted in Mildred Bangs Wynkoop, p 140. [Works, VI, 70-72])

(See Andy Stanley, Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 227. Stanley dedicates a chapter to John’s revelation that God is love and to love him requires loving others.)

Nancy's Story   

September 8, 2025

Nancy was not beyond the Love of Jesus!

This is a major theme of the ministry of Christ. No one has sunk too low or can run too far for the loving grace of God to reach them. Just ask Jonah, ask Saul (turned Paul), ask Matthew (hated tax man), ask Zacheus (another tax man), ask the Thief on the cross, and the list goes on and on through the Gospel pages. 

I first met Nancy as she came to the charitable serving organization where I was. She was homeless in her car with her teen daughter trying to find a new start. Alcoholism had wrecked this potential filled life. Nancy had her Masters degree, a good career, a home, a life and she lost it all over her addiction. She had spent a week or so already at the city homeless shelter with her daughter and she had heard about our services. We helped Nancy that day and quickly saw she had potential if she could beat that drinking challenge. We needed a receptionist and within days we decided to hire Nancy.

All of our team became friends with Nancy as they worked around her. Supply shelves and storage closets began to shape up and find order under Nancy’s care. It was apparent she had abilities for more. Then one Monday Nancy did not show up for work. It was Wednesday before we saw her again and heard her story.

On Saturday night Nancy woke up with a man yelling at her to get out of his car. Nancy did not know him and really did not know how she got in his car. When the police came Nancy realized she was not in our city, but was in jail in a city she did not even know. Nancy had gotten so drunk she could not remember anything about her binge weekend and it took her a few days to get back to life as she knew it.

Nancy met with us and as she cried and sobbed it was a difficult thing to have to tell her she could not work for us any longer. That was so sad. In spite of the disappointment it was not difficult for Nancy to sign on with a ‘temp’ agency and get a job at our city’s large stove manufacturing plant.

Randy Howard Ministries, my 501c3, kept in touch with Nancy and helped her as she found a slum apartment where the bathroom repairs had not been finished yet. Nancy became a wonderful friend and we helped when she was short for the utility bill, or when the car needed a water pump, and so on. Within six months Nancy tested as the fourth most successful new employee at the plant. Grace was lifting and her skills were shining through.

Nancy found a church. Nancy found her footing. Nancy found her way because the reach of Jesus was not too short to lift her up and out. We had the wonderful privilege to walk beside Nancy for two years as she grew in her stability. It was about two more years later I was invited to come to Nancy’s second Masters graduation, this one in ministry. It was held at the women’s rehabilitation house of a local ministry where Nancy was now the director. God had taken Nancy’s weakness and had turned it into the platform for her life impacting ministry to these women.

I looked around the room at the faces of these women in Nancy’s care. They knew Nancy’s story and they saw hope. They saw no one is too far gone. They saw an understanding coach that had been there and could help walk with them. They saw a hint of their own dreams coming true. Nancy’s story is the Gospel story and what Four Pillar living can do. Nancy has now published her own book and her ministry future is aimed at impacting women like she once was. 

Disposition of the Heart  

November 11, 2025

Andy Stanley has a wonderful treatment of 1 John 4 in his book, ‘Irresistible.’ The chapter is basically a casual exegesis of 1 John 4. He begins by touching the idea that John announces to the world ‘God is Love.’

I had never thought of the idea that John was giving the world an entirely new concept of God - God is Love. It is profound yet so simple. Also ruminating on this took me to thinking about how few simple and direct statements we have that God is… In my mind God is Love and God is Holy rise above all the others. That led me to consider that perhaps the two are not separate and distinct as qualities of God just as someone may say I am a man and I am old (not my favorite, so let’s go with handsome!) Those two have no real connection, but is it possible that God being Love is connected with God being Holy, and the reciprocal also? 

I believe it is a worthy pursuit to study the idea that God’s love informs his holiness and his holiness informs his love. If that is the case then my thoughts about holiness shift quite a bit. My journey is completely immersed in the Pentecostal Holiness tradition. Holiness for that tradition evolved to be about many externals. As a high school young man I kept bumping up against the ‘long hair’ prohibition so popular in ‘holiness traditions’ back then. It was also about rules to be kept or broken. It often prioritized commands that were more emphasized than others by the tradition, such as adultery was so much worse than bitterness or hatred. It was most often quite rigid and black and white in the evaluation of a person’s holiness standard. Well possibly you see what I mean without going further.

Now as I let the thought sink into my rumination that God’s holiness and love inform each other I begin to see different perspectives and even connect different dots. For one, I am a John Wesley aficionado big time! Late in my ministry I got a chance to study Wesley more intensely and Dr. Tony Richy of the Pentecostal Theological Seminary joined me to write a book about Wesleyan ministry applications. (See “Holiness Today: Words from Wesley” on Amazon) 

One of Wesley’s fundamental concepts was the ‘disposition of the heart.’ I now see how this thinking was a connection of love and holiness. For Wesley, the ‘disposition of the heart’ was the most critical criteria for spiritual standing or even holiness. Beyond actions and the external for Wesley the ‘disposition of the heart’ revealed something more significant. Of course that led me to remember the scripture, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.” Holiness and Heart (Love) have a connection.

Going a step further we often think of holiness as purity. This Love/Holiness connection could lead us to view holiness as longing for an ever growing purity and sincerity of love. That would surely be an honorable passion and a different approach to holiness than my Pentecostal Holiness tradition. The reverse could be a warning for us as well, holding love in a less than pure fashion, or even love waning in a person. It has bothered me at times to think of the scripture that many have called Jesus ‘Lord Lord’ but will not be invited into heaven. Conversely I have rejoiced that the thief beside Jesus was invited to paradise that day. Both seem to play out from this concept of love and holiness, purity and sincerity of love, and ‘disposition of the heart.’ Jesus sees where man cannot, the heart.

We know the Sermon on the Mount hints at this as it shows multiple times the working of the heart is more telling than visible actions. Those illustrations are moving from apparent righteousness to heart maladies. Or we may say visible righteousness but faulty heart involvement, such as avoiding murder while killing others in the heart. Back to the thief on the cross the process is reversed, moving from obvious darkness toward Jesus, ie., love and holiness. Though everyone that day would have said, “This is a terrible and bad man!” Jesus saw the disposition of the heart and it was leaning toward love and entrance into holiness. Jesus honored that. 

Although my Pentecostal Holiness tradition and most of evangelical Christianity would have trouble here with a murdering thief. My friend Ellis is an alcoholic that has been dragged around by addiction for years completely ruining his life. Yet he tells me about his prayers. He reaches out to me to pray with him. He knows he is bound yet he continues to reach out. Beyond the external Jesus sees the ‘disposition of his heart.’

The moment with the thief on the cross was not an aberration for Jesus. That is one of the things that exasperated the Pharisees so badly. Jesus kept relating with people that their external laws easily judged as sinners and dismissed. It seems the key was that Jesus looked at the disposition of the heart. In my experiences in the last ten years walking with people that definitely do not meet the criteria of good church people, I have often seen a tender place in the heart for Jesus. Wesley might say it was the disposition of the heart that, like a seed, was waiting to be noticed and nurtured. 

I remember Floyd, the notorious town drunk that became my friend. One day I took my lawn mower to his apartment to mow the very high grass the slum lord would not mow. But sadly my mower would not start that day. As I and Floyd sweated and strained to make it work, Floyd paused and prayed a short simple prayer to Jesus. I caught a glimpse of the disposition of his heart in that moment. If I had ignored him as a trouble making drunk I would have missed that glimpse and the privilege of nurturing it.

We know the Pharisees were famous for their Laws. It seems they judged all of life and all people by them. Sadly Christianity may not be far behind as we focus on sin and spotting it around every corner. What if we became more like Jesus and began to look for the disposition of the heart? Oh yes, it would take more time to ‘judge’ someone, that is for sure. And as we got closer to these people to observe heart dispositions the love of Jesus in us might stir a love for them, even in their struggles and dark places. And in some we might see a heart disposition like Jesus saw on the cross in that criminal thief. What a shift in perspective this might mean! What a change of attitude it might bring to a Christianity that is charged as critical and at times called ‘haters.’

What do you think as you read these ruminations about Love and Holiness being connected, ie., pure love brings pure holiness and pure holiness brings pure love? Or what about Love and the Disposition of the Heart? Talk with a good Christian friend about it and consider how these worked with Jesus, or might work in our Christian living. 

My Friend Floyd 

November 13, 2025

Floyd was an illustration of maximum care that the Charity I served could provide to a few highly dependent people in poverty. Floyd was one step above being homeless. The Charity had helped him get the sad slum apartment he lived in. This was owned by a slum lord in the east side of town. It had actually been a garage behind a house, but was converted to a one bedroom apartment. It had concrete floors and cinder block walls. When it rained for a couple of days the rain leaked in and ran down the bedroom floor towards the door. I have literally seen the marks in the dirt on the floor that had been made by running water.

Floyd in his most notorious days had been possibly the best known town drunk in Cleveland. He would get hostile when he was drunk and that would cause his problems. He had been banned in nearly every retail establishment within two miles of his house. He was known by all the emergency squads and naturally by the police. He was an alcoholic and beer was his drink of preference. I always assumed it was because it was cheaper.

I had known Floyd through the Charity for a long time, but one day I gave him a ride home. That was my first chance to actually see his apartment. It was filthy with the smell that would go along with such filth. Making matters worse Floyd loved cats. He fed them and so there would be as high as 30 cats around the place most all the time. For Floyd they were his friends and almost his children. There would always be from 4 to 8 cats inside his place and the remainder outside somewhere near the door or around the corner. Obviously they contributed to the filth.

Side Note: I write about the friends God has given to me to illustrate the Four Pillars – 1) Aim to Emulate Jesus, 2) Aim to Love God by Loving Others, 3) Invite Others into Koinonia/Community/Family Relations, 4) Live On Mission. Please understand I am not promoting everyone should enter poverty ministry. But through the Four Pillars I am promoting everyone follow God’s leading to minister to others. This is our calling as Christians or I prefer, ‘Christ Followers.’

After my first visit to Floyd’s place I got the inspiration that I could at least try to help keep Floyd in clean clothes. I told Floyd I would clean his clothes for him. He would come to the Charity sometimes looking so dirty it was a shame. So that was the beginning, cleaning clothes. That grew into cleaning towels, rugs, sheets and blankets, of course. There were several times where I just did not want to put Floyd’s things in my washing machine. I filled a large city trash can with hot water and soap and I would pre wash them out on my patio, stirring them with a stick like Granny Clampet. Ha! 

After several visits I realized the entire apartment had to be cleaned. One Spring I decided it was time to clean Floyd’s place. Another friend at the Charity knew Floyd so I asked her if she would help me. God bless that lady, she said she would, and we took on the challenge. We took everything out, including everything, like the bed and what little furniture he had. It was scary getting back into the corner of that bedroom that had not seen the light for years. Ugh! Of course it was more scary to clean that little bathroom. Ugher!

My friend and I got everything wet and scrubbed all we could. And with all that there were some places that just did not want to come up. We literally had a puddle at the door where the water collected as we cleaned. It was an improvement when we were done and I began to work with Floyd (nag him or boss him) that the cats could not go into the little bedroom. By the next Spring my wife Lena joined the project. She recruited two friends and I recruited my homeless friend Ellis into the job as well. We had Lena’s power washer on that job with Ellis running the sprayer. So we all believed the second shot was even better than the first. Ha! 

The next post will continue the story of walking with my friend Floyd. Some have given Jesus the title, “Friend of Sinners.” I want to walk in those footsteps as I try to follow Christ. My friendship with Floyd was an enriching experience for me personally, bringing great fulfillment. I believe these benefits are for every Christian to enjoy. Be sure to read our post ---  Floyd’s Story Part 2.

My Friend Floyd - part 2 

November 15, 2025

In the winter with so much rain things would get pretty bad in Floyd’s apartment. One night I got a call from Floyd that he had slipped down to the floor and the mud and muck was so slick he could not get back up. He might have been drunk and he used a walker quite a bit. He was not very mobile. At any rate I went over to find him on the floor. It was a mess and Floyd was a mess since he crawled and rolled on that muddy floor to find his phone. I tried to get him up and that was a challenge with his wet muddy socks, that wet floor, his immobility, his weight and all. We finally made it up. 

At that point I knew I was going to have to get him on his walker, get him to the bathroom, strip him, give him a shower, and get clean dry clothes on him. I think he understood because he did not fight the idea, so we proceeded. I got him back to his bed that night but it was obvious the wet floor was a hazard for him. We knew the slum landlord was not going to do anything about it since Floyd had already had some difficulties of his own doing with that man. 

I had an inspiration to work on a temporary fix for the rest of the winter. I got pallets and laid them down in the bedroom. That is where the water leaked in so badly. Then I nailed plywood on the pallets to make a raised floor. Then I nailed rugs on the plywood to give Floyd more traction. It sounds crazy but the pallets lifted the floor so the water ran below all that and Floyd could move in his bedroom on dry rugs. It helped most of that winter.

As you can see my involvement with Floyd grew steadily from that first visit to his apartment. In addition to the chores mentioned above I was taking Floyd to buy groceries when he had not spent his money on beer. I would take him odds and ends like milk and foods. I also took Floyd to the doctor visits. By this time the Charity and doctors began to communicate with me about those things. Floyd would call me for everything and those calls rose to numerous times a day at their peak.

My goal was to raise the quality of life for Floyd of course, but on the Christian level it was to give Floyd a friend. Floyd did not have a friend in the world. Nearly all his interactions turned ugly because of alcohol and Floyd’s anger. He had no one that he talked to so I became that person. I remember taking him to a fast food spot for his birthday. He had a big burger and hot dog combo. I thought there was no way he could eat more, then he mentioned a Banana Split. We got one and he devoured it! We sat and talked about his life journey, where he had worked in life, and cars he had owned or liked back in the day. It was a sweet birthday.

Floyd did not have much of a family life. He had been married and he believed he had a daughter somewhere. He had worked hard at various places. He mentioned most of his work was at a saw mill in a county nearby. It was there he was run over by a tractor. Later in life he had been run over again. So Floyd had pins and metal in his leg and he always had trouble walking, though he walked everywhere all the time. 

It was evident that Floyd had a hard life. As I have seen in so many people in poverty and addiction there was an anger in him that was easy to trigger and often for little or no reason detectable. With this hostility Floyd viewed nearly everyone as an enemy or at best with suspicion. That is a difficult path in life with no support network and seeing nearly all the world as a threat to you. This was where Floyd lived. 

The relationship with Floyd continued for about two years. His calls to me and requests for me grew and grew. I would try to put parameters or boundaries on them but Floyd seemed to be an insatiable heart. In the end Floyd suffered cancer and died in hospice care. I know he saw a demonstration that God loved him as a friend. It is all in God’s hands but I will be thrilled if I see Floyd again one day in eternity. What a glad reunion day that would be. It was my privilege to love and serve Floyd since God loved him, he was a created child of the Father, and in serving him I was serving Jesus, in loving him I was loving God. That is the highest privilege of all. 

I want to encourage all who follow Jesus to become more aware of those nearby that God hopes His People will touch, love, and give care. Whether rich or poor, our world is filled with people who need someone to walk with them. Be on the look out this week and see what the Spirit will show you.

Acts of Mercy 

December 11, 2025

Question:  Has anyone ever heard of the ‘Acts of Mercy’?

I would assume that this phrase has never been heard by a majority of Christians. That is fine. Obviously the world is still standing. Nevertheless I do believe that a blog on church renewal and discipleship would be the right place to introduce this concept to believers today.

John Wesley used this phrase in his ministry so let me describe that background. Wesley believed and taught his people that there were activities which followers of Jesus could participate in that would infuse grace into their lives. He generally called these activities the ‘Means of Grace.’ He taught that believers needed to access grace through these to grow and develop in their spiritual life. 

Within the ‘Means of Grace’ there were two distinct areas: Acts of Piety and Acts of Mercy. The Acts of Piety were similar to what we call ‘spiritual disciplines’ today. They were directed more vertically toward God, such as prayer, fasting, reading and meditation on scripture, solitude, and more. The Acts of Mercy were directed more toward others with actions to serve and help people in their needs. Wesley saw these two as expressions of the two sides of the Great Commandment, loving God and loving others. He believed that both of these activities would infuse grace into the lives of disciples walking to follow Jesus.

In my generation any discussion of discipleship would quickly move toward the spiritual disciplines, or ‘acts of piety’ as Wesley taught. But until I began to study Wesley’s ministry I had never heard of a connection between ‘acts of mercy’, or serving others in Christian love and care, with growing spiritually or discipleship. After some years now, in my personal experience, I can testify there is a flow of grace that comes with compassionate acts to love and serve others.

Saint Anthony gives us this quote from antiquity: “the person who does good to the neighbor, does good to the self.” (Roberta Bondi,  To Love As God Loves, p.28)  Somewhere through the years this idea of serving the disadvantaged as a means of one’s own spiritual development has been lost. This discipleship concept from Wesley would encourage us to reconnect ‘acts of mercy’ to each person’s spiritual quest toward the image of Christ. 

If that is the case then this would also encourage churches to return to the field of serving the needy in force, since it is an avenue of discipleship and growth, as well as an act of mission. We know that mission and discipleship have been the two central mandates of the church for centuries. Now Wesley helps show us that they are both accomplished in great part through mobilizing ministry to the hurting and needy.

We have seen how impacting the Methodist ministry was in both England and America. Wesley required every Methodist to participate in a small group called a band. Each band aimed to encourage personal spiritual development. One way this was done was for each band to take up donations for the poor and for the members of the band to go into the slums to serve hurting families. This was a powerful ministry for the hurting, as well as for the band members, and for society as thousands received significant help. Naturally many of the poor were attracted to join with the band that had touched them, finding grace and life transforming power. (William Greathouse, Love Made Perfec, p 123.)

Back to my own journey, I clearly remember dedicating time to the spiritual disciplines through decades. An example would be my resolve to read the Bible through numerous times, or feeling called to memorize thousands of scriptures again through decades. I can attest that those activities brought grace into my life and helped form my walk with Jesus all through the years. 

It has only been later in life that I have more personally experienced the grace influx found in serving people in need. I have come to feel that Wesley was right, grace for moving your life on toward the image of Christ flows abundantly through both ‘Means of Grace,’ --- Acts of Piety and Acts of Mercy. Ask the Father about adding to your grace inflow by regularly seeking people to serve in love. It will be even more rewarding outside the house of God.

(This blog has not taken the time to support the concept of  ‘Acts of Mercy’ with scripture, but it is easily done.)

The Holy Spirit: Our Agent of Love  

December 18, 2025

It may be a surprise to some that the Holy Spirit is God’s point man for spreading His Love all around. Paul wrote to the Romans. “And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:5 (NASB)

I know we have enjoyed thinking about the power of the Spirit (see Acts 1:8). We love to talk about the gifts of the Spirit (see 1 Cor 12 and 14). We ought to think a lot more about the fruit of the Spirit (Mat. 5), still it is mentioned at times. But let’s think about this Love function and the key role of the Spirit. Pentecostal scholar, Frank Machia, builds his entire theology of the Holy Spirit centered on this love function. (See Baptized in the Spirit: A Global Pentecostal Theology, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.)  Wesley’s motto, ‘Love God, Love Others’ shows us love is the heart and the whole of the Gospel. And ‘Loving God by Loving Others’ (1 John) shows us how critical the horizontal call of this Love is. But HOW are we going to do this? 

Anyone that has tried to love people knows there are times when that is hard work. I am amused by the missionary that said, “I would be a good missionary if it weren’t for those natives.” All of us ‘natives’ become hard to love so many times. We all have wrinkles in one way or another. It is the Spirit that is commissioned to come along in us and through us to empower love we could never give by ourselves.

Can anyone remember moments where you were surrounded, and it seemed like permeated, by the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit? What did you feel after an experience like that? ----That’s right! It was the love of God filling you so genuinely. But as the Spirit touched you with that love of God, something else would happen. We used to sing an old Christian song called ‘Give Me That Old Time Religion.’ The next stanza says, “Makes me love everybody.” You can’t describe it any better. As the Holy Spirit fills us with the Love of God, the next expression is that love flowing out, as it naturally does, with love for everybody!

When I consider this central calling of the church to love, I agree with Frank Machia that this love function of the Spirit may be the overlooked and most important work of the Spirit, pouring out the Love of God over our hearts. Without this, believers and the church could never fulfill their call to Love (the Great Commandment) and thereby share this Love (the Great Commission). Like Jesus said, “Everything hangs on this!” (Mat.5) Can we pray today, “Spirit of God please pour the Love of God over our hearts fresh today? Please bring a fresh baptism of love to your church so that the world will know that you are the Christ.” (John 13) 

Here is an example of the difference the love of Jesus can make in the life of a believer.

David Brooks, speaking about this kind of attitude, told about his friend Jimmy.

“When Jimmy sees a person -any person- he is seeing a creature who is made in the image of God. As he looks into each face, he is looking, at least a bit, into the face of God. When Jimmy sees a person, any person, he is also seeing a creature endowed with an immortal soul – a soul of infinite value and dignity. When Jimmy greets a person, he is also trying to live up to one of the great callings of his faith. He is trying to see that person the way Jesus would see that person. He is trying to see them with Jesus’ eyes – eyes that lavish love on the meek and the lowly, the marginalized and those in pain, and on every living person. When Jimmy sees a person, he comes in with the belief that this person is so important that Jesus was willing to die for their sake.” (David Brooks, How To Know A Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply And Being Deeply Seen, p.23.)

Wesley agrees expanding the Great Commandment: 

“The second great branch of Christian righteousness is closely and inseparably connected therewith (loving God), even 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'  Thou Shalt Love - Thou shalt embrace with the most tender good will, the most earnest and cordial affection, the most inflamed desires of preventing or removing all evil, and of procuring for them every possible good. Thy Neighbor – That is not only thy friend, thy kinsman… not only the virtuous, the friendly, him that loves thee, that… returns thy kindness; but every human creature, every soul which God hath made; not excepting him whom thou knowest to be evil, and unthankfully him that… persecutes thee: Him shalt thou love as if thyself…” (Stephen W. Rankin, “The People Called Methodists,” edited by Henry H. Knight III, in Aldersgate to Azusa Street: Wesleyan, Holiness, and Pentecostal Visions of the New Creation, (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2010), 40)

Yes, may we pray, “Holy Spirit spread the Love of God out over our hearts and fill your church once more with this most essential touch, your Love.” 

Love Idea continued... 

December 22, 2025

Love continued…

John Wesley Prayers

O God, full of good and the One who does good, You extend Your loving acts to everyone in the world. Human beings are the works of Your hands, made in Your image and capable of knowing and loving You eternally. Help me to exclude none from my charity; all of us stand as objects of Your mercy. Let me treat my neighbors with that tender love which comes to Your children because You created them. You require love; it honors You.

Do not permit a single temptation to make me ungrateful or allow me to forfeit Your loving ways. Your kindness comes to us as better than Life itself! Grant that I assist all my brothers and sisters with prayers when I cannot reach them with actual services. Make me zealous to embrace all occasions for bringing people happiness by assisting the needy, protecting the oppressed, instructing the ignorant, confirming the wavering, exhorting the good, reproving the wicked. Amen.

(Demaray, Wesley’s Daily Prayers, p. 69.)

How Can It Be?

How can we see love for God through love for our fellow man develop effectively in our lives? It is a worthy quest and naturally we are not alone in this question.

Richard Rohr poses a similar question: 

“Both God’s truest identity and our own True Self are Love. So why isn’t it obvious? How do we find what is supposedly already there? Why should we need to awaken our deepest and most profound selves? How do we do it?” (Richard Rohr, “Facing Reality,” Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations, March 15, 2024, Center for Meditation and Action, cited May 20, 2024, https://cac.org/daily-meditations/facing-reality/)

A few years ago Andy Stanley, one of the premier pastors in the nation, wrote a book titled, Irresistible. I particularly like his lead-in phrase on the cover, “Once upon a time there existed a gospel that was irresistible.” Think about how this connects with the idea that something is missing today in the church.

Roberta Bondi wrote her work, To Love As God Loves, after studying the second and third century church fathers. That was possibly the most world impacting the followers of Christ have ever been, penetrating the Roman Empire. She found a different view entirely on how to develop this love:

“We all expect to love our neighbor from the day we become Christian, and we also expect to love God. Unfortunately, our expectations usually have almost nothing to do with what happens. Many of us have no sense of God at all, or if we do, it is more like a sense of duty or even fear toward God. Then, because we believe we should love God, we judge ourselves to be religious failures.” (Bondi, To Love as God Loves, pp.27-28)

The philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch says: “Morality is mostly about how you pay attention to others… The essential immoral act is the inability to see others correctly.” “Because we don’t see people accurately, we treat them wrongly. Evil happens when people are unseeing, when they don’t recognize the personhood in other human beings.” 

(David Brooks, How To Know A Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply And Being Deeply Seen, p.32.)

“By contrast, the essential moral act for Murdoch is being able to cast ‘just and loving attention’ on another person. Love is knowledge of the individual.” This “means that a good person tries to look at everyone with a patient and discerning regard, tries to resist self-centeredness and overcome prejudice, in order to see another person more deeply and with greater discernment.” “Most of the time morality is about the skill of being considerate toward others in the complex situations of life.” “Casting this kind of attention makes you a better person,” as Parker Palmer also concluded. (p.32)

For Wesley Christian life had a goal to produce maturing disciples who love God without reserve and who love neighbors in practical, sacrificial, Christ like ways. From Spirit-infused dispositions comes the desire to love and serve the neighbor. This desire – in the logic of the divine economy – is a necessary (and utterly inevitable) concomitant to the desire for and love of God. (Stephen W. Rankin, “The People Called Methodists,” edited by Henry H. Knight III, in Aldersgate to Azusa Street: Wesleyan, Holiness, and Pentecostal Visions of the New Creation, (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2010), 37)

Church it is time we get back to the highest call of the gospel and Christian faith --- Loving others.

How Did Jesus View Sin? 

December 30, 2025

The philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch says: “Morality is mostly about how you pay attention to others… The essential immoral act is the inability to see others correctly. Because we don’t see people accurately, we treat them wrongly. Evil happens when people are unseeing, when they don’t recognize the personhood in other human beings.” 

(David Brooks, How To Know A Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply And Being Deeply Seen, p.32.)

If I understand Murdoch correctly, she is basing sin relationally, how we see others and how we treat others. This foundation seems attractive or at least interesting to me because I believe the foundation of Christian faith life is love, which is relational. The Great Commandment is the center of Christianity, Love God and Love Others (Mat. 22:35-40), making the bedrock of Christianity relational. Therefore, the common denominator of evaluating sin should rightly be a marred relationship with God or others. 

More traditionally Christianity has seen and described sin as a violation of prescribed laws, or rules, or behaviors. That approach may not lead to a wrong designation of sin, but it fails to anchor the evaluation in the relational base of Christianity as affirmed by Jesus in the Great Commandment. Historically it is easy to verify how law and rule based perspectives on sin have been open to legalism and behavioral applications while relational aspects and heart issues were overlooked. 

If we use Murdoch’s words to talk about the more historical approach to sin it might read like this: “The essential immoral act is the violation of the law.” It is obvious here that any reference to the love base of Christianity in the Great Commandment is missing even though Jesus himself said, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Mat. 22:40) Also inherently connected with this Love base is the relational foundation of Christian faith life. We are relationally bonded to Jesus in this life of faith and sin ought to have everything to do with marring that relationship. In the same way we are relationally bonded to both the Body of Christ AND humanity made in God’s image therefore sin ought to have everything to do with marring those relations. Christianity is relational, not religious; it is relational and not legalistic; it is love bound, not law bound.

Let’s take another step. If Christianity evaluated sin as relationally based and love anchored how would our priority list of sins change? Has anyone wondered why Jesus blatantly gave religious pride and hypocrisy his most agitated and condemning reactions? In my life Christianity has placed sins such as murder, sexual sin, and criminal activity high on the list of disdain. If I dare ask where many relational sins fall on the traditional Christian priority list we might find pride, bitterness, unforgiveness, gossip, evil speaking, judging and anger near the bottom, almost off the radar. Perhaps some would even say these are not so much sins as simply ‘faults’, though the Bible does differ. Reflecting on sermons in my life experiences where sin was itemized, I find a real omission of relational sins such as those above or in Ephesians 4:31 (with the exception of bitterness). In my memory behavioral sins denounced have far outweighed relational ones. But it seems interesting the opposite was the case for Jesus in the Gospels.

Some may feel that a conversation like this is an invitation to ‘go easy on sin.’ Emphasizing love makes some worry that the church will just allow anything in the name of love. No doubt Pharisees in Jesus’ day felt he was too soft on sinners. Today we understand he was establishing a new system based on the heart not on the law. Clearly his Sermon on the Mount pointed beyond what the law said and raised the standard to the intentions of the heart. That was different of course, shifting from a system they had evaluating by externals and moving to the leaning of the heart. Still, we see how often Christianity through the centuries has slipped and shifted back to systems that can observe, measure, and judge from external behaviors. The hidden things of the heart have not been easy for religion to embrace, and yes Jesus came offering relationship, not religion. In addition, it has been difficult for religion to really believe that love wins.

As culture calls Christianity harsh and judgmental how does this conversation inform us?

Considering the Four Pillars concept, this post supports Love Pillar 2, Relations Pillar 3, and Emulating Jesus Pillar 1.

Love Superlative in Scripture

Followers of Christ have one guide book, one instruction manual. It is the Bible. This is where Christians find the words and life model of their Savior and King, as well as the lives and faith of their early fathers. So, it is significant to find that a review of scriptures on love will bring the reader to a sense that these passages somehow hold a central and superlative quality to all other scripture. That is a grand statement to make but the scriptures below will support such a declaration solidly.

There is no better place to start a review of the superlative scriptures on love than John 3:16, the ‘key verse’ of the entire Bible. The love of God in action is the basis of the Bible, of all creation, and God’s goal for all humanity.

John 3:16 (NRSV)

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

Then when Jesus was asked about the most important commandment he gave us these words and even elevated their value further.

Mat 22:36-40 (NRSV)

 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

John writes about the Last Supper Jesus held with his disciples. Here near the end of his life on earth Jesus calls this the New Commandment he is giving and then tells them how effectively it will impact the world nearby. 

John 13:34-35    

 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

In an extended teaching section in the Gospel of John Jesus gives his ‘personal’ command here. How wonderful that the Christ who is love places his personal stamp on this command as his own.

John 15:12-13, 17  (NRSV)

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. 17 These things I command you that you love one another.

Paul and Peter use the phrase ‘above all’ when they speak of love, giving affirmation to the superlative nature of love in this new faith.

Col 3:14 (NRSV)

14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

1 Peter 4:8 (NRSV)

8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. 

1 Cor 16:14 (NRSV)

14 Let all that you do be done in love.

Paul calls for imitation of God among the saints and gives ‘walking in love’ as the criteria.

Eph 5:1-2 (NRSV)

5 1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Paul in his letter to the Corinthian church chooses to include an entire section on the superlative quality of love. This chapter is without parallel in his writings and has become the quintessential description of Christian love.

1 Cor 13:1-7, 13 (NRSV)  

If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast[a] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

13 And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.

As in several of these superlative scriptures Paul let’s the Romans know that this call alone has the ability to fulfill all the law. Paul says we all owe a debt, we are debtors to love one another.

Rom 13:8-9 (NRSV)        

8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Paul uses the word ‘telos’ to describe why love is the center of Christian instruction and faith. ‘Telos’ means the goal to be attained or the target for which one is aiming. In effect Paul is saying love is the ‘ultimate end’ of all Christianity.

1 Tim 1:5 (NRSV)

 5 But the aim [telos] of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. 6 Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk.

1 Tim 1:5-7 (The Message)    

5-7 The whole point of what we’re urging is simply love—love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. Those who fail to keep to this point soon wander off into dead ends of gossip. They set themselves up as experts on religious issues, but haven’t the remotest idea of what they’re holding forth with such imposing eloquence.

James gives a new title to this gospel call. He names it the Royal Law. Whatever James had in mind with this title it seems clear it lifts the command up and above common laws, or regional laws, national laws, or even universal laws. 

James 2:8 (NRSV)

8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.

Paul prays for his people that they will be ‘filled with all the fulness of God’ and we see love has a central place.

Eph 3:14-19 (NRSV)         

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family[l] in heaven and on earth takes its name. 16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Paul writes Philippians chapter 2 describing the self sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. The passage is known for the “kenosis” concept, or self emptying Paul writes about Christ. The first verse begins with Christ as the focus, his comfort and consolation. Paul then gives a call for emulation with four parallel phrases and culminates with the fifth call to begin verse 5, “Let this mind be in you.” Paul could not have given the call any stronger asking his followers to live in self sacrificial love for others as Christ did. (See also Ephesians 5:25-26 NRSV “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”)

Phil 2:1-5 (NRSV)              

2 If, then, there is any comfort in Christ, any consolation from love, any partnership in the Spirit, any tender affection and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…

The Apostle John wrote his first letter emphasizing the theme of love. It is quite possible as the only remaining apostle he felt the weight on his shoulders to convey the precise center of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Three times he uses words like, “this is the message,” or “this is his command.” His repetition belays the great emphasis he placed on this theme of love as the message about the gospel that rose above all other themes. Listen.

1 John (NRSV)

3:11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 

3:14  We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers and sisters. Whoever does not love abides in death.

3:23  And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 

4:7-8   Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

4:11-12  Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

4:16  So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

4:21  The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

The Great Commandment did have a connection to Jewish faith tradition. It is called the ‘Shammah’ and it was revered at the heart of Jewish religious life.

Dt 6:4-7 (NRSV)  

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.

In summary, we have reviewed that the Great Commandment is well known as the most central call of the New Testament flowing from the lips of Christ. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matt. 22:37 NRSV) Many Christians would even be familiar with the connected command that Jesus gave, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (vs 39) Then Jesus confirms the unity and importance of these two combined commands with his next statement, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (vs 40) This validation of the highest order cannot be underestimated in Christian faith. Jesus literally made this two-commandment package the key for the fulfillment of the exhaustive parameters of faith known to the Jews. Mark simply writes, “There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31 NRSV) 

‘Love God and Love Others’ can be considered the core of all that God calls followers of Christ to do and to be. It can be said, in accord with Mark, there is nothing greater than this. Nothing of Christian faith and life can go beyond this or venture far without this. Through this the will of God is expressed in his 

followers and without this his essence is missing. 

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