You were saved here!

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God.

1 John 4:7

I thought I knew the answers before. I thought I was a Christian. I went to church. I read along with the bulletin. I sang the songs. I even helped at Vacation Bible School. On occasion I might even have prayed... but I prayed to a God that was far away, down a long tunnel.

I went to West Virginia and there in a cafeteria, sitting on a cold floor, I met God up close and personal. Jesus was all over my back. He was chasing me... begging me to stop running and to embrace Him.

What did I find there? I found a God that wasn't far off down a tunnel. He was right there knocking at the door of my heart. He was begging to move and change me and make a new life.

It turns out that being a Christian.... a true CHRIST-FOLLOWER... has less to do with you and your eternal salvation then it does have to do with helping others. Christ came. He gave everything to help those in need. He didn't use His power for fame. In fact, every where He went He told people to keep His miraculous activities a secret. He didn't use it for power. He lived a poor life of a traveling missionary. He didn't hide in the temple. He went to the streets and He found the lepers and He touched them. He found the weak and He healed them. He found the blind and He gave them sight. He found the lost and gave them direction.

Jesus used His power to rain love down on everyone He met. But that wasn't enough. He wasn't satisfied. He had to give more. So in the ultimate act of love, He gave His life not just for his close friends... but as an act of sacrifice for all of us. Jesus gave His life for all of us.

God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us.

1 John 4:16b

Love? If we are true Christ-followers we should be pouring out love. We should be giving up our own lives to selflessly love others. Being a Christian is not about guilt. Its not about fear of death or hell. Being a Christian is about love. God is love. His command is to love others. If you are hiding in your soft, comfortable hole while people in need of love are hurting just outside you aren't radiating God's love.

This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day--our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life--fear of death, fear of judgment--is one not yet fully formed in love.

We, though, are going to love--love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.

1 John 4:17-19

Jesus doesn't want your selfish confessions. He doesn't want your passive support. He wants you to put down the bulletin, roll up your sleeves and get busy doing His work. There is so much to do friends. Its time to get in motion. Let's go rain down love.