Love Everybody, Always

I recently started reading the book "Everybody Always" by Bob Goff. He is also the author of the book "Love Does." I am only a couple of chapters into it but it is one of the best books I have ever read. Each chapter is separate story about a lesson that Bob learned - often the hard way - about what it means to love without inhibition, insecurity, or restriction. The book points the way to embodying love by doing the unexpected, the intimidating, the seemingly impossible.

Every time I read a chapter, I am like "wow." Each story leaves me speechless and inspires me to love others more. Which is a great thing to be inspired to do, being that loving one another is the greatest commandment of all. We were created to love one another. We often forget that, just like how we often chose certain people to love.

How true is that though? Think about people in your life and who you intentionally love on and who you just brush off to the side. We are human and it's human nature to like and dislike some people. We need to break the human nature and love everyone. It is so hard. Trust me! I try my best and to be honest with you, there are still people in this life that I can't stand.

In one of the chapters I was reading yesterday, the author was talking about those very moments when we are having a conversation or interacting with someone that we cannot stand/someone who is very different than you.

The author said that when he is put into those situations. Instead of saying I'm going to believe in Jesus for my whole life, I've been trying to actually obey Jesus for thirty seconds at a time. Here is how it works: When we meet someone who is hard to get along with, think, Can I love that person for the next thirty seconds? While we continue to be irritated, begin counting silently...twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine... and before we get to thirty, say to yourself, Okay, I'm going to love that person for thirty more seconds. 

When I read that yesterday in the book, it was like God was looking right into my eyes and saying that straight to me. I needed to hear that. I believe we all needed to hear that. Imagine living life that way with the people it's hard to get alone with. Thirty seconds turns into a minute, a minute turns into an hour, and hour turns into a week, a week turns into a month, a month turns into a year, and next thing you know, you are loving the people you used to not be able to get along with.

So what does love everybody, always look like?

The greatest commandant is to love your neighbor as yourself right? Right! Be honest with me though, have you ever wondered who your neighbors that God is talking about actually are? Like do you think about your next door neighbors, the people who have the room right next to your dorm room, the house down the street? Who are the neighbors that God is talking about? '

I know I have thought that before for sure. Like why are we only supposed to love the people who live right next door? Silly thought though.

(there will be a lot of quotes in this post from the book...all of them will be italicized)

I love it when Bob Goff writes:

We're not supposed to love only our neighbors, but Jesus thought we should start with them. I bet He knew if our love isn't going to work for the people who live close to us, then it's probably not going to work for the rest of the world. Jesus didn't say who are neighbors are either. Probably so we wouldn't start making lists of those we don't need to love. Each of us is surrounded every day by our neighbors. They're ahead of us, behind us, on each side of us. They're every place we go. They're sacking groceries and standing city council meeting. They're holding cardboard signs on street corners and raking leaves next door. They play high school football and deliver the mail. They're heros and hookers and pastors and pilots. They live on the streets and design our bridges. They go to seminars and live in prisons. They govern us and they bother us. They're everywhere we look. It's one thing we all have in common: we're all somebody's neighbor, and they're ours. This has been God's simple yet brilliant master plan from the beginning. He made a whole word of neighbors. We call it earth, but God just calls it a really big neighborhood. 

Still wonder who your neighbors are? Everyone is your neighbor and the whole earth is one really big neighborhood. I love that!

One of the things that keep us from loving our neighbors is fear of what will happen if we do. On the other hand, think about what will happen if we don't!

We don't think Jesus' command to "love your neighbor" is a metaphor for something else. We think it means we're supposed to actually love our neighbors. Engage them. Delight in them. 

When joy is a habit, love is a reflex. 

We we become obsessed with joy and the feeling of joy, it becomes a habit and because of our habit, love will follow. I encourage you to try that out. Make joy and being joyful to other people a habit and when it becomes a habit the first reflex will be love.

What does this look like to you and what can you do about it? I encourage you to start loving on your neighbors in whatever way that you can. Let people know you love them through your actions and through your words.

Selfless love has the power to transform even the darkest places into meadows.