This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?  Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

This picture may look somber for a Sunday morning. But I believe the poignant image has a lot to say about gathering for weekly worship, and the problem with taking such freedom for granted to the extent that we forget the deep relationship between spiritual faithfulness and the kind of liberty we enjoy (and have come to expect) here in the “Western World.”

Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying today. I’m not making the classic error of confusing America with God, or of advocating the kind of nationalism that quickly substitutes the flag for faith. No, I’m simply reminding myself – and all of my readers – that the deep respect for freedom and liberty we own has largely emerged from the kind of spiritual freedom gained via faith in God through Jesus. To the extent that we choose not to live as faithful disciples, I believe we are – albeit inadvertently – inevitably losing contact with the foundational impetus for freedom.

It’s just a thought, but one that I’d like to plant inside as many heads as possible.

So, if you’re not already a faithful participant in weekly worship (or if you are an infrequent participant), then take this opportunity to get connected with a community of faith. Learn to both respect and experience the kind of deep relationship with God that makes injustice, inequality, oppression, tyranny, poverty, and enslavement of every kind (including financial) completely unacceptable.

On the other hand, the greater the distance any one of us moves away from our Maker, then the more we are prone to tolerate the lack of freedom Jesus came to defeat.

If you haven’t considered this before, then take a look at some of these images from Arlington National Cemetery, and think about the profound cost of your/our personal and corporate liberty. Then recommit yourself to be a follower Jesus, the one who sets the standard for what it means to give everything so that the people you love might know peace.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

– DEREK