Love to the End

Good morning sweet friends! I pray that you have had time to watch the
two videos below that I posted yesterday. If not please scroll down or
go to the full blog (if you are here through the DFM website) and
watch them sometime. Powerful!

My husband and I began David Platt's book Radical last night together.
It was strong and at one point when it spoke of one church spending
$23million on a new building followed by all baptists raising $5,000
to send to the refugees of Sudanese war...I was weeping so hard that
Jay had to finish reading to us aloud.

Radical. We spend most of our lives wanting to be balanced...oh how I
have said that before!!! Our Christian culture has labels like fanatic
and radical and freak for those who step out beyond the Christian
culture normal. But once a friend said to me...a fanatic is someone
who loves Jesus more than you.

Wow...according to David Platt...we are not called to live a
"balanced" easy to digest kind of life here. We are called to RADICAL
obedience. And I believe Jesus said that first:) he said if we are to
follow him, we are to deny ourselves (not much of that happening in
our Christian lives!), take up an instrument of torture called our
cross...and then follow Him. That is pretty radical!

This morning, I was reading in John 13:1-5. It said that Jesus was
about to have the last Passover with his disciples. It said that
though one had already been swayed by Satan to deny him...he loved
them all to the end.

Those words hit me. To the end. Jesus loved radical. He loved
passionately and he loved the world. After it says he loved them...it
says he washed their feet and served them. 1 Corinthians 13 warns us
that serving without love means NOTHING! We must love...to the end.

We can not get all about a cause...even if it is good...because a
cause is all out US! We must be about real radical passionate love for
Jesus and OUT of THAT love, we can love others and serve them.

We can not love Jesus and not overflow to the poor, homeless, orphan,
widow, immigrant, and the LOST. It is impossible! But that love is not
safe or balanced or SANE by the world's standards...or even the
Christian standard.

I agree with Platt that our churches (and myself) have been happy with
just a Christian spin on the American dream. Oh how that breaks my
heart!!

Jay and I prayed fervently last night together about how we can be
more in love with Jesus and love others radically out of his love.
Will you join us?

Will you read God's Word for yourself and experience such JOY and LOVE
that you MUST overflow? True authentic love following Jesus will
require everything! It will be radical! And I am even more ready to
shed man's approval and run HARD after God's glory to fill my life, my
family, my country, and the ends of this earth.

The call is radical. God's love for this sinner is radical. Radical is
HIS idea...not a new book idea. HE is radical in that while I was
still in sin HE DIED FOR ME.

That is love. That is the example. That is the command. That is my
invitation. That is LIFE to the FULL!

Oh, Jesus help me to love to the end...and strip away everything to
take up a towel and serve those YOU loved first. May it be so!

Thrive!
Frances