I didn't come up with that title on my own. Those are some lyrics from the song "Portland is Leaving" by a killer artist named Rocky Votolato. (If you like singer-songwriter acoustic stuff with some harmonica thrown in, this is your guy). Anyways, this entry isn't really about me plugging music. I've heard that song hundreds of times and always thought it was good, but those specific lyrics have been stuck in my head lately. I think Rocky is a Christian, I'm not really sure, but boy do those lyrics sum up what we are supposed to be about.
When we try to go about this whole Christian thing with any other motive than love, it really is a massive trainwreck waiting to happen. Paul made that pretty clear in I Corinthians 13 when he wrote, "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." How many times are our actions based on something other than love? How often do we treat others with a measure of love that we feel is equivalent to what we receive in return?
Are you a love-centered person? Is your church love-centered? We cannot be program-centered, ministry-centered, social justice-centered, small group-centered, or any other kind of centered. We need to weigh every action and every word, considering the question, "Is love motivating me?"
The only thing that will change people, culture, and our church is love---it is the only answer.
