Crazy Love: No Strings Attached

A few weeks ago, I finished reading Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love, which was recommended to me by a friend.  Wow, what a call to action!  I set that book down feeling both burdened and free at the same time, and I’d like to tell you why.

This book reads as a call to love— to love Christ and His people.  Essentially, Chan asks: If we are saved by His great sacrifice and are blessed with His love, why don’t we give that love away in return?  I felt this overwhelming burden to go out and share my love with others, but two seconds later, my thoughts turned to excuses.  I can help others in so many ways, but without transportation and good vision, there is a great deal I cannot do.  It was then that I realized that I had been using my transportation barrier and visual impairment as a deterrent to serve.

I have committed to serve in 2011, so I now ask the question: how can I look beyond these barriers and truly serve others?  Maybe I can’t drive someone to a doctor appointment or help paint their house, but if I put forward the effort, I can do a great deal to reach out.

In order to hold myself accountable, I am posting some of the ways in which I think I can get involved in the lives of others and serve them.  Within the last week, I have already done a few of these just because I felt so incredibly burdened to reach out:

• Make a batch of cookies to share for no reason other than to bring someone a home-baked treat
• Sing for the elderly at the nursing home
• Pay for someone’s coffee at the coffee shop
• Help a neighbor carry his or her groceries
• Take a few moments to call, email, or Facebook a friend just to encourage him or her
• Even better, I could stop at someone’s home just to say hello. 

 

There is so much more that I could do, and I’m hoping to find even more ways to reach out to others.  For so long, others have blessed me through gifts of time and resources to better my life, and now it’s time for me to give back.  Do I expect a gift in return?  Absolutely not!  I pray that I can serve with no strings attached.  If Christ loved me enough to go to the cross for me, then I can surely love those around me. 

If anything, Chan’s book encouraged me to be a better servant of Christ.  In addition to feeling the call to service, I have found a new hunger for the Scriptures and memorizing His Word.  I can’t seem to get enough of His promises, and I pray that this time of renewal will not just be a season.  To serve and to grow in Him: both are my call to action for 2011 and for as long as God blesses me with opportunities.