Love

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. – John 15:13

How about them Blue Jays? Things sure are heating up on that front! The Jays’ management has gone ‘all in’ this year in hopes of making it to the post-season playoffs.

Maybe, just maybe, Toronto will have a winning team again.

It’s exciting.
It’s something to hope for.
It’s something to unify us as a city.

It’s also a welcome distraction from the daily grind of work and life. The job that we do on our streets and in our shelters is tough. Hearing stories of brokenness and pain and abuse all day, every day can be brutal. Loving broken people unconditionally is hard work. Love definitely is not an easy, romanticized slogan on a Hallmark card.

What exactly is love anyway? Well, Christians believe that Jesus is ‘love’ in human form. So when our Salvation Army mission statement boldly states that we will share the love of Jesus Christ, we must look deeper into what that love actually looks like. And it isn’t pretty. Jesus showed love by getting down and dirty with people that, on the surface, looked unlovable. Jesus’ love is ferocious, wild and very messy. He showed love by going ‘all in’ and laying down His life for those of us who are hard to love.

It’s fun to have a team to cheer for; to transport us to a different place once in a while to take our minds off the struggle. But being on the winning team doesn’t look the same through the ‘Jesus lens’ as it does if we win the World Series. Sharing the love of Jesus Christ means putting others first and being willing to come in last place. Then, and only then, will we learn that love really does put us on the winning team.

Let’s keep on striving to be ‘The Hand of God in the Heart of the City’.

Peace,

Dion Oxford, Director of Mission Integration