Love

The thing we are called to do, if we say we want to follow what Jesus says to do, is to build and have healthy and holy relationships.

Sometimes that's the last thing we find ourselves pouring our lives into. What do I mean?
I'm a news junkie. I visit probably 6 or 7 sites a day to read headlines and stories from around the world. Recently there has been a number of news articles that show that many people would rather be isolated, doing things by themselves, rather than be with others.

One was that married people would rather give up intimate times with their spouse rather than give up the internet.

Another was that most spend more time watching TV/surfing the net/playing video games by themselves instead of spending time with others.

So I titled this "love"-because what is happening is we are walking away from love. Walking away from relationship. We are running full speed towards isolating ourselves from others and spending time being incredibly selfish doing things we want to do, by ourselves.

Maybe I'm talking mostly to other single people. Maybe. But I think love is shown by relationships. Friendships, parents, kids, loved ones. Are you spending huge amounts of time online? Playing video games? What are you sacrificing in order to find time to do all that?
Sleep? Food? Or is it your relationships with others............

It's not that any of those things are evil. It's that when stuff is out of balance, we miss out on love. We miss out on opportunities to learn from each other and grow in love and community.
At this point do I say "Love others?" Love your neighbor? Love your brothers and sisters in Christ? Maybe it's time to say, make sure you around in community and around people and enviroments that build love. Hebrews says that we are to encourage one another daily, as long as it is still called today, lest we become hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Some of us have become hardened in a way, where we would rather give up a friendship than our myspace. We would rather miss out on family time than give up Facebook. We'd rather be by ourselves playing Halo than face to face with a peer over some coffee or a good meal. Have we missed out on community so much that we have lost out on our chances to encourage each other? Maybe our hearts and our minds have become hardened. Just remember this:
Jesus loves you very much, and you belong in loving friendships and relationships with others. So you can love them, and so they can love you. For that is what we have been created for.

Go ahead.

Log off.

Close your laptop.

Call someone, or spend time with someone you love. It will be so much more beneficial than more time online.

Love,

Andrew