As Easter people, we should show Christ’s love to world

My View

It may be true that idealists are destined to crash into the reality they seek to alter. It is also true that ideals and vision are precursors of change. They disrupt the status quo, upending our thinking and allowing us to see beyond what is to what can be.
As Christians we rightly celebrate the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet between those historic events is a life that was lived as no other before or since.
And yes, it was idealistic.
By worldly standards Jesus failed miserably. When he told a group of religious legalists that the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law gives life, he was treading dangerous waters.
The same was true when he forgave people of their sins, healed people on holy days, challenged entrenched authority, loved the unlovable and did other “rebellious” acts against established norms.
Today, we, as Christians, give thanks that Jesus Christ did all those things and many more—in fact, too many to mention according to Scripture.
Christ’s ideal of love as the guiding principle of existence brought out the most unlovable atrocities committed against him. But through it all, he never changed his message—even to his dying breath on Calvary.
Jesus never kept score, never measured grace and above all never quit loving people into a life-changing experience of God.
Today, we, as a church, still struggle with the timeless, yet simple, message of Jesus. We organize, form committees, launch campaigns, and have meetings and conferences.
We categorize ourselves as liberals, conservatives, fundamentalists and charismatics. We make a thousand other distinctions to erect walls that Jesus himself proceeded in earnest to tear down during his brief life.
And a world waits.
While we speak about the religion of Jesus Christ, hurting people wait for the religion of Jesus Christ. They are counting on our ideals whether they know it or not.
As Easter approaches, we can make the decision to show resurrection to all. We can be infectious carriers of grace, spreading love lavishly.
Just because the world doesn’t seem to be listening to us doesn’t mean people aren’t paying attention. They want to know that we truly mean what we say—without hidden agendas or conditions.
Our guiding principle is to show the love that liberates, invites inquiry and celebrates diversity. To be sure, offering this love is a great responsibility, but it is every Christian’s calling.
Will we truly go beyond ourselves and reach out to a world that doesn’t seem to care about who we are and what we represent?
Yes, we risk rejection and ridicule, but so did Jesus. His idealism consistently bumped into the reality of human nature. But he never gave up on anyone.
Neither should we.
We are Easter people. We should raise our voices, open our hearts and reach out to all with the love that resurrects people from complacency to commitment while throwing open the doors of our churches with reckless abandon. That would be ideal.