Exterme Sports - part two

I read an article about extreme sports where it stated that they “differ from traditional sports due to the higher number of inherently uncontrollable variables.”  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_sport)  This also describes why God’s extreme love can be compared to it.  I think most of us would like to be in control of the various situations of life, but there are times when the response of extreme love forces us to let go of the reigns of control.  A response of this level of love may mean that we have to humble ourselves, let go of what we think is best and let God be God!

Acts 18:5 tells of a time when Paul was “pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews (in Corinth) that Jesus was Christ.” (KJV)  John Gill in his “Exposition of the Entire Bible” defines this verse by describing how Paul was “moved and stirred up to preach the Gospel more frequently and more powerfully… and being filled with zeal for their welfare, he continued preaching Christ unto them.”  This, I sense, is the key to successfully operate in His extreme love.

If you’ll recall, our verse from 2 Corinthians 5:14 which I related to yesterday, mentioned Paul’s comment of how “Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. (for) His love has the first and last word in everything we do.”  The previous verse describes some of the extreme things he did among the people he preached to.  In it he confesses, “If I acted crazy I did it for God.  If I acted over serious, I did it for you.” (The Message)  In Acts 26:24 we find where King Festus went so far as to call Paul crazy for the things he did and preached when Paul stood in his court!

There is a line in the movie “Red” where a Russian KGB agent confides to the retired CIA operative Frank Moses saying: “One does crazy things for love!”  I guess that is true for acting in God’s extreme love as well.  But the difference here is that we do it for the other’s welfare, not just for ourselves!  Jesus did everything He did for us.  He put aside everything He had, became like us and went as far as to die for us!

Through the years I’ve come to see how that many times the advice that people give to others is based on what they think is best for the individual.  Their advice is based on their experience without any real knowledge or consideration of the other’s experience and background.  As I thought on this earlier this morning, I suddenly recalled back during the second year of our marriage when my wife and I had accepted the responsibility of managing the apartment complex we lived in.

We had rented one of the apartments to some friends who had three children.  The wife was actually a few years younger than my twenty three year old Piper and continuously badgered her about having children.  Well, needless to say, we were young, highly involved as the Youth Ministers in the growing Youth Department at our church and not ready to have kids.  In fact, now this may sound a little selfish… but after some discussion about starting a family early on in our marriage, I honestly told Piper that I wasn’t ready to share her with kids yet!  We both agreed that God would show us when the time was right, and He did about three years later.  At that time we both knew it and it was perfect timing for us as everything seemed to fall into place along with a well-paying new job for me with great medical benefits that covered just about everything!

Once again… God had a timeline that was right for us, but our young friend thought that she knew what was best for us and kept perusing her way of thinking with my wife.  After months of lovingly putting up with it, my wife (in her special caring but confident and stern manner) informed our friend that we were following God’s plan for us and that the conversation on that subject was over!

God’s extreme love begins by us realizing that it is not all about us, but that our zeal needs to be toward those we are called to minister to.  It means that we need to listen closely to the Spirit’s leadings, put aside what we think, and do whatever crazy things He tells us to do!  Many times it just requires us to shut up and listen to those we are reaching out to…  Have a great day!  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What CRAZY things am I expecting today?”