Love Is Oxygen

by Jarrid Wilson

  I got up and started to make my way toward the mall when suddenly I saw a scrawny, gray-haired man approaching. It was Tom. He was wearing the hat and one of the shirts I had given him. “Tom!” I called across the parking lot. He didn’t recognize me until I was about ten feet away.

  “Hey, you! I was wondering when I’d run into you again,” he said. I explained that I was wondering the same thing and asked how he was doing.

  He shook his head. “You’ll never guess what happened,” he told me. “The night you got me that cell phone and clothes, I had a heart attack underneath the bridge. None of my friends were back yet, and I didn’t know what to do. Then I remembered you had got me that phone, and I dialed 911.”

  I literally had no words. You have got to be kidding me, I thought.

  “I told the operator where I was, and they picked me up within a few minutes. I was in the hospital for more than a week. I almost died that night, Jarrid. That phone saved my life. You saved my life, and I have no idea how to repay you.”

  “Repay me?” I said. “I’m just glad you’re all right, man! This is a total God thing. Don’t thank me. Thank him.”

  “I know.” He laughed. “I just want to thank you for noticing me. You could have ignored me that day, but you didn’t.”

  Tom then told me he’d gotten into a program in Orange County that helped homeless veterans find affordable housing. Because of his age and health condition, he had been placed in a home within a matter of days.

  My connection with Tom is one of those experiences that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Why? Because it showed me, so vividly, how a single act of living out God’s love—something as simple as noticing someone, stopping, and giving them a ten-dollar prepaid phone—can be the difference between life and death. Every act of love has a drastic impact on the world around us. And every act of love is an act against death.

  By following God and loving the people around us, we’re offering them life-giving oxygen: the chance to see and know God’s love for themselves and those around them.

  You never know what people are going through, how broken they are, or how in need of a simple “hello” they may be. Love doesn’t have to be extravagant. It just has to be love. Remember, when the love of God fills our lives, it should overflow. Every ounce of who we are should yearn to help and love those around us.

  When we learn to put aside our own selfish agendas and comforts and instead embrace God’s agenda of love, the world will become a better place, one filled with compassion and understanding. I’m reminded of a quote by Francis Chan: “I believe He wants us to love others so much that we go to extremes to help them.”[16]

  We all need to ask ourselves some questions: What are we doing to show the world a tangible and active example of God’s love? Has the love of God so filled our lives that we can’t help but show it to others? Are we taking advantage of the opportunities God has put before us to love our neighbors, or are we ignoring people in need because of selfishness and our desire for comfort? These are tough questions. But living out love should define our lives when we grasp God’s love for us. Love should change the way we interact with the people around us. It should change everything about us.

  I don’t share about Tom to try to convince you that I’m some sort of incredible person who has got this love thing figured out. But I wanted to show you that when we elevate God’s yearning to love on a pedestal higher than ourselves, incredibly beautiful things can happen.

  I’m struck by a beautiful underlying meaning in Tom’s prepaid phone that served as lifeline: Jesus’ death on the cross paid and prepaid for any debts we owe. His death and resurrection are our lifelines. Jesus went to the cross knowing we don’t deserve that kind of forgiveness, but love meant that he did it anyway. And because of this, we are to be the same kind of love to others. No matter where you are or what it may look like, just love. Take time to pause and extend a hand to people who may need it. Leave money in the mailbox of that person who can’t make his or her rent. Pay for the lunch of the family in line behind you. Fix the flat tire for the person on the side of the road. Buy a cheap little phone for someone who needs a lifeline. Do it all with love. You never know what something as simple as a conversation or a prepaid cell phone can do for someone’s life. Opportunities are everywhere. Grab hold of them.

  When Jesus began his ministry here on earth, he didn’t take the route you might expect. He didn’t take advantage of his power as the almighty Alpha and Omega. He had nothing but the clothes on his back and words of anthemic proportion, and he did what everyone was least expecting from the Messiah. He didn’t try to rub shoulders with powerful influencers or rich politicians to gain popularity and status. He didn’t set out to build his Kingdom from the top down or go out of his way to try to sell the fact that he was the Son of God. He didn’t brag about who he was, try to trick individuals into joining him, or use Jedi mind control to gain a following. His approach was gutsy and raw and grassroots. He started from the bottom. Jesus went to “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40)—the people who were the absolute last on anybody’s list of Most Influential People.

  Take his followers, for example: the twelve disciples. These guys weren’t philanthropists, social influencers, or scholars; they were blue-collar boys, fishermen and tradesmen. It’s not that the disciples weren’t smart; they just didn’t have the societal ranking that people would expect. And Jesus didn’t stop there. He chose to do life with the hurting and brokenhearted, the oddballs, the black sheep, and the misfits—people who continually needed his attention, help, encouragement, and forgiveness. Prostitutes, drunks, swindlers, thieves, adulterers, tax collectors—these are just a few of society’s castoffs whom Jesus truly and deeply and wholeheartedly loved.

  God’s Son came to spend time and die for sinners, the messed up, and those who are sick. How incredibly humbling and beautiful. The perfect Savior wanted to spend time with imperfect people, and he did this knowing he’d be there to witness firsthand their struggles and misfortunes. But he loved them—despite the hardships, despite the messiness.

  Love may be like oxygen, but that doesn’t mean the air around us is always clean and abundant. It doesn’t mean that love is always going to be easy. If you’ve ever climbed a mountain or stood at high elevation, then you know that gasping feeling—that raspy, winded, stretching-your-lungs-out feeling of trying to get in a good breath. It hurts. It’s not the kind of oxygen we wish we had. It’s not the easy kind of breath we need. But without those much-needed breaths, no matter how hard they are, our lungs would deflate and our hearts would cease. Don’t believe me? Try to hold your breath for ten minutes and see what happens. (I’m just kidding. Don’t do that.)

  That’s how it is with love. It’s not always going to be simple to love others. It’s not always going to be convenient or without hardship and deprivation. But it’s still how we breathe. It’s still the very thing that keeps us alive in the spirit of God. Because when we breathe out love to others for the sake of glorifying God, we in turn breathe in the love that God has for us.

  We’ve been assigned the arduous and humbling task of showing love to all people, and this includes those we consider our worst enemies, those who live differently, those whom we don’t believe deserve love, those whom we think are too far gone. Murderers, rapists, thieves, cheats, liars, and even terrorists are just a few of the people we are called to show love and grace to. Why? Because these people are no better or worse than you and me. That may be a hard pill to swallow, but it’s just the truth. We’re supposed to show love to everyone, no matter who they are or what they’ve done—because Jesus died for all of us. This may sound extreme, but it’s just love.

  I firmly believe you can radically love people without approving or affirming their decisions, no matter how radical those decisions may be. That kind of love takes time. It’s not something we can practice today and skip out on tomorrow. When we agree to get our elbows dirty with Jesus’ brand of love,
we agree to play the long game, even on the days we don’t feel like it. And if we want guidance on how we should treat people who are different from us, Jesus is the perfect example:

  He loved people who were different from him.

  He ate with people who were different from him.

  He served people who were different from him.

  He befriended people who were different from him.

  That’s just who Jesus is. So many times I find myself reading the Bible and noticing Jesus do things that seem so simple in nature but actually have such a huge impact. Over and over again, Jesus used himself as an example of what to say, how to say it, when to say it, and whom to say it to. He does this for a reason. And it’s because he wants us to be like him. He wants us to follow his lead by doing what he did and saying what he said. People aren’t always going to understand our reflection of Jesus. The Bible tells us not even the Pharisees understood why he was doing what he was doing half the time. Jesus’ way of living and loving was so foreign to them that they couldn’t think of any other way to respond than “That’s wrong.” But it wasn’t. Nothing he did was ever wrong. But he did spend a lot of quality time with people who were doing the wrong things, and that’s what I believe led the Pharisees and religious rulers to be so confused. He was spending time with people who were doing bad things.

  But that’s the thing . . . if you call yourself a Christian, then you’re called to be like Jesus. And you don’t have to agree with someone’s lifestyle in order to spend time together, love that person, or show you care. You don’t have to have the same beliefs to have dinner together. You can befriend people who are different from you without being a complete and insensitive jerk. And this can lead you to some radical things. My wife and I actually decided together that it would be best if I stepped down from a job in order to follow Jesus this way. We dropped everything without a backup plan because we felt the organization wasn’t loving a group of people the way Jesus calls us to love, regardless of our beliefs on the topic. Of course, we sought the wise counsel of close friends, pastors, and mentors to make sure we were hearing God correctly. And all of them unanimously told me with complete confidence, “You can’t be there. That’s not who you are. It’s time to part ways.” It was heartbreaking, but my wife and I knew, without hesitation, that it was time for me to leave because we’d rather step out in faith and have no clue where God might have us next than be part of withholding love and grace from people. A paycheck and health insurance should not come before relationships and following God, especially when core convictions are involved. Living out the love of Jesus means following him wherever he calls us, no matter how hard it might be. And trust me, it was hard and confusing and a little discouraging in the beginning. But even a month after we had stepped down, God had already begun showing us how right the decision really was. The reality is, sometimes God needs you to move in order for the fullness of his blessing to come upon your life. And that’s exactly what happened with us.

  Life is too short to live without love and compassion. Jesus didn’t carry around a list of everyone’s faults and failures. He didn’t stand on the street corner and yell at people who were different from him or didn’t quite understand who he was. He taught them. He embraced them. He loved all people equally. He showed them grace and extended a hand of comfort and loving correction. And you and I are called to do the same. Regardless of our interpretation of the biblical text, we cannot ignore or push aside Jesus’ call to love our neighbors and our enemies. We can show love without compromising our convictions.

  I’ve always found a sense of joy and purpose about this call to love radically when I read Mark 2:13-17, where we find Jesus dining with sinners—in fact, what some translations label “disreputable sinners.” We can easily miss the scandalous nature of what’s happening here. The religious leaders could not believe that Jesus, a rabbi—a holy man like themselves!—would dare spend time breaking bread, an intimate and holy experience, with people they considered sinners.

  Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.

  Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?”

  When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

  People who call themselves Christ followers should find themselves in this kind of situation: clinging to the love of Christ as we practically express his love to the world around us. More than we’d like to admit, we Christians can find ourselves more like the religious leaders than like Jesus—we get this crazy idea that we are too good to be spending time with broken people or that we ourselves are without a speck of sin and failure. It’s mind-blowing. I understand the desire to avoid the negative influences of the world, but that doesn’t give us the excuse to ignore the commandment and mission as a Christian to love the broken and hurting. Somebody once went out of his way to love each one of us, so why do we think the people around us deserve any less? We are called to be examples of Jesus to those around us so they may come to know the Love that placed itself on a cross for us.

  For me, the most powerful part of this story in Mark is found in verse 17: “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” In a bold and simple statement, Jesus debunks the idiotic remarks of the religious leaders, reminding them who needs Jesus’ love. The reality is, everyone does.

  This story really should make us question whether we are doing all we can to exude the love of God to those who need to see it. Are we spending time with people who are different from us? Are we opening our homes, our hearts, and our arms to people who may be a little rough around the edges but are still human and in need of compassion? It’s really easy for us to justify why we shouldn’t, but there are one hundred reasons more as to why we should.

  Are you getting outside your comfort zone, or are you staying hidden in your Christian bubble and making justifications as to why you shouldn’t?

  Don’t Withhold Love

  Ultimately, Jesus’ rule book for loving others boils down to this:

  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no commandment greater than these.

  MARK 12:30-31, NIV

  Don’t miss this: Jesus never said to love only people who are easy to love. He tells us simply to love.

  Every time I open up the Bible, I cannot help but notice the number of times God commands us to love the people around us. We’re told to love our enemies, our neighbors, our spouses, and the world alike. But while the Bible is pretty crystal clear that we should relentlessly love those we come across daily, it seems we often try to justify why we don’t need to show love the way Jesus intended us to.

  I’ve heard everything from “But he might think I’m affirming his actions” to “She’s just not a nice person.” But no justification gives us the right to withhold love from anyone, let alone from those who are broken and in need of it the most. The love of Jesus has no bounds, no limits, and no expectations. It just loves. If you call yourself a Christ follower, then you are called to reflect the same image with the same intensity. Love can take us places hate could never reach. Withholding love is withholding Jesus. It’s possible to show love to those who are different from us without compromising core conviction
s.

  You want people to see Jesus when they see you, even when you oppose their thoughts or ideals. You want people to find comfort in your presence, forgiveness in your heart, and love in your soul. You want people to know they can confide in you without being brashly criticized and judged irrationally. Jesus is pretty clear in what he says in the lines of Mark 12:31—the importance of love, especially when it comes to your neighbor: “The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (NIV).

  Pastors, teachers, brothers, and sisters, we are called to love all people in the name of Jesus. We are called to show compassion to those who need it. We are called to befriend those who are different from us, all to exude the grace and mercy of our Savior, Jesus. It may be messy, but it’s our calling.

  My life is filled with people who are different from me, have different beliefs than I do, see various parts of the Bible differently than I do, struggle with different sins than I do, hold to different core convictions than I do. Does this mean I keep quiet in fear of offending someone? No. Does loving someone mean you live a life of passivity? Nope. Love simply means you evaluate the way you say things and make sure they are said with compassion and mercy, even if they are contrary to the beliefs of others. It hurts my heart to see how many pastors and leaders are wrongfully handling conversations on certain controversial topics, and I believe that coming back to a heart of compassion is what’s needed most. So many people are handling these conversations correctly, and I wish more people would follow suit in the name of Jesus.

  Regardless of what side of a conversation you find yourself on, the commandment to love people and share truth in a loving way remains the same. We can exude love even when expressing our differences of opinion on topics such as marriage, immigration, and politics. But as we do, we must ask ourselves what it looks like to love the other person even in disagreement. I know this isn’t always an easy task, but it’s definitely an honorable one for all Christians who are willing to pick up their crosses daily. We’re called to love people no matter where they are from, what they’re doing, or how messed up they really are. You can still love people without approving of their decisions or way of life. You can speak truth but still do it in a loving and compassionate way. How do I know this? Because Jesus did this all throughout Scripture.