Showing the Love of Christ

One thing that has recently been puzzling me is how much do Christians show the love of Christ? How do we show the love of Christ to others and more importantly are we even willing to show the love of Christ? So many times it seems that we hear the stories of Christians who make comments or alienate people because they are not like them or maybe do not believe exactly the same thing that we believe. However, my question is simply this, are those people beyond the love of Christ? Shouldn't we be willing to share that love with them?
This post is stemming from a couple of things. First, our pastor shared an illustration this morning about a group of people who spent an enormous amount of time perfecting their new building and then refusing to let other people use it. This is a story that I have heard and lived through a number of times by hearing the story of someone who creates a space that is so beautiful and sacred that they are afraid of it getting messed up. Jesus worked with a number of people who messed things up and caused problems but it never stopped Him so why does it stop us.
Thankfully we are a part of a wonderful church that exemplifies what it means to share the love of Christ. They are truly willing to be the light of Christ but also to get their hands dirty and be salt to a hurting and broken world. As I look at this it makes me feel excited to be a part of such a wonderful group of people. Two things that have shown me what it means to share the love of Christ have taken place recently within the life of our student ministry. First, I have seen a teenage girl who is pregnant and due next month (March) go through the motions of not understanding what it means to have a baby. Through a phone call a few weeks ago her family informed us that she did not have anything for the baby except a diaper bag and a bottle. We knew that this young lady needed to see the love of Christ in action and so we did. Although we informed her that we didn't agree with the decision that she made and the situation that she was in we knew that she needed help so we offered her a number of gifts for the baby. Will we ever get a thank you or any response? Who know, the important thing however, is that we are sharing the love of Christ.
The second thing that occurred was actually something our students did. A couple of weeks a young man who hadn't been at the church for over a year came back and talked to me before our weekly gathering. He informed me that he had made a wrong choice and not was living with that choice, which was a two week old son. His girlfriend, who is not a Christian, had been invited to the church that night by him and he just wanted to make me aware of the situation. After talking with him for a while I wondered how the students would respond. About half-way through the lesson his girlfriend came in with the baby and sat down. Afterwards he introduced me to her and to his son and it was a wonderful moment because a number of our students came over and offered to help with the baby. They responded very appropriately to the situation with their words and comments and even began talking to the young lady about their own relationships with Christ. After she had walked out of earshot the young man looked at me and said, "Thanks for responding the way that you did." I simply told him that we didn't know how else to respond other than with the love of Christ. These instances have made me think and wonder about the reality of sharing the love of Christ and I hope that we as Christians will see more and more people share the love of Christ, with more and more people every day.