…ifs, ands, and buts… by David VanCronkhite

Love, the Gospels say, makes all the difference. Supernatural love. Agape love. That kind of love present only when there’s been a supernatural impartation of DNA from the Father to His children.

Agape is the DNA that changes the heart and begins the process of making a person human as God intended. That’s because God is Agape, therefore in search of man desiring to begin this eternal relationship in the now. Agape is love, the mystery of what allows us to love, the ability to imitate God and fulfill the incredible proof statement of the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God – to love our neighbors.

Ah, but that’s where the arguments begin. They go like this: “Yes, David, I agree love’s the foundation of the Kingdom of God, but…” And we all know the power of the word but. It’s a game changer. It negates all the “truth” that was just spoken and replaces it with the “truth” that’s about to be spoken. It’s kind of a bait and switch, especially for those selling the systems of man.

The arguments become, “I agree love is the foundation of the Kingdom, but there’s righteous judgment; but there’s morality; but there’s justice, the sinners prayer, discipleship, disciplines, and the Law and the Prophets. And, please, we can’t forget our favorite doctrines.” They may even begin their statements with “It is written,” but the fact that those calling themselves Christians have reportedly spawned close to 40,000 denominations suggests few in history have ever agreed on how to interpret and practice what is written.

Jesus must be leaning his heart toward the Father while sitting at His right hand saying, “Father, what’s with all the “but” stuff? I did Your will. I told them, Paul told’em, we all told’em – ‘the only thing that counts (as in all of life) is faith expressing itself thorough love.’“

Wow! My Jesus might be uttering as he declares to His Father, “How many ways is it humanly possible to negate love in order to win the approval of their favorite sect? Don’t they realize if they just love, they’ll change the world? I told them very clearly it’s simply about love–to love You and to love their neighbor. It has nothing to do with the Law (which I fulfilled) or speaking judgment on those who don’t do it like they do it. “

Perhaps, then, the prayer we should first be asking people to pray is not a Sinner’s Prayer but a Lover’s Prayer: “Give me You (Agape), Lord, so I can become a lover of all. No ifs, ands or buts!”