This is the title to a book written by Tim Sanders in 2003. At one time Sanders worked for Yahoo! and during his time there came to not only know the Lord, AND, more importantly and pertinently, he learned how to love as Jesus loved. Long before anyone knew anything about Apps for iphone, Apps for business, Apps for work, Apps for music, Apps for whatever you want an App ...Sanders took God's idea and came up with the THE App...LOVE and used it for his book. The thesis of the book is that love means a different way of leading people, of teaching them and directing them in the business world. Love wins - always.
Recently a friend was telling me about a conversation that she had had with her teenage son. He was having difficulty with a teacher in school and things were getting tricky. This teacher meant a lot to him and both were passionate about their subject but the young man did not like the manner in which he was being taught. Both student and teacher knew it and were struggling. My friend sat him down, looked him straight in his eyes and with all the deep and hard love that she has for her delightful and gifted youngest born said to him, "It doesn't really matter if you like him or not. You have to be bold and talk to him and get this sorted. You have to do that because it is not what he is expecting and we are to be different. We are called to LOVE because love is the difference. Love wins - every time."
Love wins - every time.
During the summer I played on a softball team and we were part of a league; a league that is made up of teams from across our denominational churches. We have had a lot of fun playing together and we have been able to get to know our peers better and some for the first time. Some of the team are really good players having hit balls, turned bases and made home runs since they were in elementary school, others on the team have never held a softball, let alone made it to home plate (how do you hold a bat properly anyway?). Our team made it to the playoffs and for the first game of the finals, our team of 10 showed up ready to warm up. However, that night, something was up. Guys who usually hit the ball out of the field were firing the large white object straight at the opposition making for easy catches. Women who have no trouble catching from any direction fumbled with the thing as if it were their first time on the base....we did not play well - at all. Our faces said it all, but what was more disturbing was the behavior of the opposing team. They were yelling at each other, turning bases like there was no tomorrow, and screaming at the umpire if he called a "wrong" call. OK, let's get real here. Our team might not have shown any shoddy behavior that night, but we have probably done before. However, that night any onlooker watching us would probably turn in disgust as they learned that we were a "church" league and might therefore decide that all those churchy people are really hypocrites after all....but worse because we say that we love each other and act like Jesus in ways that set us apart in a good way, but the reality is that we are just like the Pharisees.
Love wins - every time.
We are called to love each other and that might mean saying some words that we do not want to say because we might look bad but we need to take courage and say them all the same. Loving each other might be to encourage the other team just because no one ever does. Loving others might mean stepping back to let someone else get the prize because nothing is more important than loving one another as we love ourselves. Loving might be giving financially when no one else is looking or picking up the tab just for the heck of it or staying the extra hour when we would rather be home or or or...
Love wins - every time.
Love is doing what the world would encourage you to not do.
Jesus was not messing around when he told his disciples to love their neighbors as they loved themselves. He knew he was calling them to something different, something that the world did not, nor perhaps was not able to offer. He loved the woman at the well because she was a human being made in God's image and so he talked with her when no one else would. He loved Peter even though he knew that Peter would desert him in the dark moments on trial. Jesus loved Judas as he watched him get up from the table and betray him with a kiss. As he was hanging on the cross in unbelievable agony, Jesus loved the soldiers who sat before him, casting lots for his clothing.
And more than 2000 years later, Jesus calls me into a life of grace covering all my mistakes, mishaps, junk and deep down nonsense, calling me to love others as he has shown me to do.
Love wins - every time.
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