Emerging Africa

“Love is ...
Love is handing your heart to someone and taking the risk that they will hand it back because they don't want it. That's why it's such a crushing ache on the inside. We gave away a part of ourselves and it wasn't wanted.
Love is a giving away of power. When we love, we give the other person the power in the relationship. They can do what they choose. They can do what they like with our love. They can reject it, they can accept it, they can step toward us in gratitude and appreciation.

Love is a giving away. When we love, we put ourselves out there, we expose ourselves, we allow ourselves to be vulnerable.
Love is giving up control. It's surrendering the desire to control the other person. The two - love and controlling power over the other person - are mutually exclusive. If we are serious about loving someone, we have to surrender all of the desires within us to manipulate the relationship.”- Rob Bell, Sexgod

What does it truly mean to love God? That’s a question that’s been buzzing around my head for a while. What exactly is this thing we call love? The Bible speaks about God loving us unconditionally, about loving us with every ounce of His being but what does this mean for us? What really is Love?

I’ve been reading a book by Donald Miller called Searching For God and the more I read about God’s relationship with us and our relationship with Him, the more I question what it really means to love God. Rob Bell describes love as “handing your heart to someone and taking the risk that they will hand it back because they don't want it.” That’s what God does. He gives us His whole heart; He gives us an opportunity to get to know Him, even to the extent of giving His only son up to die for us. That’s a risk God took, knowing that at any time, we as imperfect humans can crush his heart and hand it back. But He does it, because He loves us. He does it because he cares. So what does that mean for us?

Donald Miller writes that “the essence of our spirituality lies in a relationship with God.” The very core of who I am dictates what I believe, dictates my actions and dictates my thoughts. It is what makes me me, what makes me interact with others, it shows how I am in relationships and how I am, alone with my thoughts. In everything I do I have a choice. I have a choice to show Jesus in my life. I have a choice to show what treasures are in my heart, I have a choice to show the beauty of God. But do I?

Since the fall, the human race has been imperfect. We have fallen short of what was intended for us. We do things that are unjust. We do things that hurt others. We are selfish and narcissistic but still, there is a higher being who sees everything, who sees the hidden motives and callous words but who also sees the desire that we wrap so secretly in our heart to help others, to bring a change to the world. We were all created to be influencers, to have an effect on society. I don’t want to pass through this world onto the next, without achieving all that God has created me to be and do. Last year I went on mission to South Africa and whilst I was there, God really broke my heart for the land of Africa and I desperately believe that Africa will arise again. That she will become a land of vitality, a land of fruitfulness, a land of generation changers but for her to rise, it means that the West must stand up and actually get of its backside and do something to help…..not just put on concerts for publicity or have the odd couple of days in the year that they deem as “sport relief” or “comic relief” but actually to do something 24/7, 365 days of the year. And yes Africa, herself must stand up and take on the responsibility and become her own generation changer.

And so I have come to the understanding that what it means to truly love God, is to truly love the world. To become like Jesus and live in the world and interact and show a different set of principles that is higher than the principles of the world. The Bible is a narrative of love; it is a story of faith, a story of hope. It is a book of justice, of peace, of power and humility living side by side. It is a book of influence, of change and as a follower of Christ; I must employ these virtues in my own life because Jesus shines through me.

To truly love God, means that we must truly seek Him with our whole heart and to love Him to the extent that we would be willing to lay down our own dreams and desires in life and to follow Him. It’s a path of commitment and discipline and a path that is hard at time but brings the greatest worth to the world. God loves us so much that He gave us the greatest gift that He could ever give, His Son. He watched His child bear the pain and the anguish that human kind inflicted on Him. He grieved as He saw His Son cry out “Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?”

It tore His heart apart to see His only Child die a torturous death, but the anguish and pain that both the Father and the Son felt was so that you and I could have freedom. That you and I could live a life of worth, a life of love, a life of hope, of joy and of peace. And so to truly love God requires something of me. It requires: me. It requires everything thing that I have within me.

To truly love God means that I must be humble and kneel down before the Creator of the Universe and recognize that I am not higher than He, that I am not in control of my own life. And it’s hard and requires humility but this is what it truly means to love God and I must give glory to God in everything that I do and everything that I say.