love?

Here's another quote from C. S. Lewis...

"Love is not an affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained."

I remember when Kitty was still a puppy. I remember smacking here a lot. I remember many would feel bad for her because she got smacked way too much...specially when she stepped out of the sidewalk. I even heard some say, "she's alright, she didn't know..." when she got spanked. Yes, i'm sure it hurt her or maybe just scared her...but they didn't know what it was for. Many thought we only did it because we didn't like the behavior or she disobeyed. We didn't like spanking her but we had to do it...we had to to keep her from getting hurt. Wow, that doesn't make any kind of sense...hurt her to keep her from getting hurt. Well, as some of you know...Kitty will never cross the street without being told. She sits and usually waits for us to tell her it's ok to go. Of course, there would be times when she gets too excited (dumb moment) and runs after something and not think about the street but that's pretty rare. So, how does that help her from getting hurt? Should be obvious...her risk of getting run over by a moving vehicle is way lower compared to a lot of dogs out there. Yeah...she doesn't know that but we do. There's just no way we can ever explain, how this all works, to her...she's a dog. She knows what it means when we say "no" and "go on". That's all she need.

Back to the quote. We all know that Kitty's a dog...but, we still "wished," for her, the ultimate good. Even if it means hurting her for a bit. And wishing doesn't just stop at just wishing. That's like praying for a job and after praying, sitting on the couch watching tv. No, that's not how we work. That's not how Christians live. It did say in the book of James..."As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." That "wishing" involves action...either by words or by action.

What brought this topic up?

I was going through my myspace friend list to delete some guys I don't really talk to anymore. And during this myspace cleanup I ran across the Public Unrest profile. Wow...good 'ol days, right? Yeah it was fun...played some shows, wasted a ton of money on eating out and gas, sold some shirts and cd's, reached out to some kids and then...and then what? We never really showed them what real love was all about. We spoke about it, maybe even sang about it...but didn't really follow up...no action behind our words. Sounds like dead faith. We just let everyone do whatever they wanted to do even when it was literally destroying them. I think about punk rock Rob and how much of a friend we (Public Unrest) are that we just let him destroy his life. Is that the love that we are to show people? Is that the love God showed us? I really don't think so. I remember realizing how pathetic I am when God finally turned my heart around because He loves me. He really showed me how much of a failure I am. For what? To make Him feel good? Maybe. I think it's because He loves me so much. He loves us so much that He would and will show us the truth (usually hurts) for our best...'cause He knows what's best for us. So, is that the kind of love we showed to our Public Unrest friends? Is that the kind of love we are showing to our loved ones now? Are we wishing, for our loved ones', the ultimate goood? Don't get me wrong...this is not everything about love...this is just a part of love we usually leave out. The rebuking part...the discipline. Yes, it will hurt some.

Everytime Nate and I talk about the Public Unrest days and all the kids we had an opportunity to hand out with, it makes me question myself on how much I really cared about the band and all the kids. I have to be honest...didn't really care much during that time, I guess...now that I think about it and look back on how I backed up the songs with my actions. If I really cared, I would've said something. I should have said something. Maybe I did...don't really remember. But even if I did, I didn't say enough. But that's all in the past now...can't do much about that. But, I can do something about today. It's still hard for me to do that part of love...still hard to rebuke someone and keep them accountable because I don't want them getting hurt at the moment, I don't wont them to "not like me". But I have to remember that it's just for that moment. The ultimate goal is for them not to be hurting for eternity. The ultimate goal is God's goal for every single one of us...eternity with Him.

So, for those of you kids reading this from myspace...if you have any "friends" who let you do whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want...probably not the greatest friend to have around. It just means they don't care much about what you do.