Love Like God

I heard an account of some missionaries who received a package. It was a nice looking care package with smiley faces on it, which turned out to be a bomb. The missionaries weren't at home, but their 16 year old was, and he got blown across the room and injured badly. They eventually found the guy. He has four kids. The dad carries a picture of the man who made the bomb in his Bible with him to remind him to pray for the guy every day, because he loves him. The 16 year old, after finding out the guy has four kids, asked his dad if there was anyway they could help support those kids.

That's loving like God.

I heard another account of a guy who got mugged by three guys. He had his laptop stolen and was forced at gunpoint to take some money out of the ATM. He was able to tell one of the muggers that he forgave them and was able to share the gospel a little bit with him. His biggest regret? That he was not able to share more of the gospel with all three of them. His biggest hope out of the event? That they went through the contents of the stolen laptop, because there is a lot of Christian material on it, and God could use that to change their hearts.

That's loving like God.

I heard another account of missionaries who were imprisoned and tortured. Some of them ended up dying because they would not deny Christ. A report from those who were released talked about how one of the group volunteered to die first, but a number of members in the group kept one-upping each other to explain why they should die first instead, laying his life down for his friends.

That's loving like God.

I've also watched a movie before called Amish Grace. It's based on a true story of a man who came to an Amish school and shot a number of girls there, killing some of them. The most shocking parts of the story? The forgiveness the community showed to the man who shot the girls, and the compassion they showed to his wife, who couldn't believe they cared so much about her pain in the midst of their own.

That's loving like God.

These stories just blow me away, and they are just a drop in the bucket. Crazy acts of forgiveness that are beautiful pictures of the love of God for the world -- sending his son Jesus to die to pay the price for the sins of a world full of people bent on rebelling against him.