Growing up there was this movie. If I’m honest, I am slightly ashamed I am familiar with it. Can this be a safe place? You sure? Ok. In the movie Clueless... STOP. See there you go. You are judging me. I said Clueless and ALL the judgment!
Ok but seriously, the movie Clueless popularized a term for my generation; “as if.” We said that all the time. “My teacher thinks I really care about this class, AS IF.” “He thinks I like him, AS IF.” It was a way of saying yeah right! We’d say that to mean, yeah, I’m not going to do that or I’m not into that or I don’t believe that. We used it. We killed it. And now we can tell how old we are by it.
This week though, God brought the term back to me. He convicted me with this term that subconsciously I say all the time. I don’t verbalize it but the way I act (or don’t act) communicates “as if.”
I know someone that bought a pizza at Capone's this past week (it’s in downtown Toms River and delightful). They simply walked around handing a slice to people with a God Loves You card. Little weird? We are in the middle of the #loveONEloveALL campaign so this is how this person chose to love the community. Who is the first person who said yes to a slice of pizza? A prisoner.
"Who is the first person who said yes to a slice of pizza? A prisoner."
The man said he had just gotten out of jail five minutes earlier. To hear that and say “as if” would be to walk away and say, I ain’t getting involved with a prisoner. Would that be love? Nope. So instead, they gave the man a slice of pizza and a card communicating God’s love. He then said the only thing that got him through jail was a list of scripture verses. He then pulled out a list of verses he read over and over again while in jail. This one slice of pizza just became a slice of his spiritual journey. To say as if would have been to miss the opportunity to be a part of this journey.
A person before me has a great need, a family member has a great need, I hear of a people group or area of the country in great need. I see it, I know it and I act “AS IF.” As if, what? As if I would help but; but what?! As if they should help? For me, I act as if I am a helpful person, but my actions (failure to act) communicate something different.
Here is what I read where God redefined as if for me.
Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Hebrews 13:1-3
As if. As if what? What am I to do? Love people. God has called me to love people. Cool, got that.
Show love to strangers? AS IF, am I right? No. God is right. This is an issue where we fail to apply love. Love the stranger, don’t act as if. To be willing, yet do nothing accomplishes nothing. It’s a form of indifference. It is a form of selfishness. It is a form of hate. Do you want to love others? Are you willing to love the stranger? You should, they may just be an angel. To go even deeper on how to treat a stranger with hospitality simply google “The Good Samaritan” and get lost in that story for a few hours.
"Do you want to love others? Are you willing to love the stranger? You should, they may just be an angel."
Then my goodness, the author really had to write as if I needed to read this. I did. I still do. Remember that prisoner? Treat them AS IF you were in prison with them. What? Imagine I’m living that same life? Reach down into that prison cell as if I was right there with them. Yeah, treat them as if you were in their shoes. Oh and if you are mistreated, treat them as if I was the one suffering? What? Like, being willing to suffer with them. WIllingly? Yeah, as if you were the one in prison or suffering.
This passage completely redefined AS IF for me. When I hear of a need may the Spirit of God SCREAM as if to me. But when I hear the Holy Spirit say as if may it lead me to love as if I was in that same situation. May God’s as if silence my as if.
What if God intended for the prisoner to meet you when he got out of jail? What if God intended to have your neighbor move in next door so when they experienced the loss of a child they’d be next to someone like you? What if the person who just lost their job, overwhelmed by emotion, isn’t just sitting next to you in the coffee shop to annoy you. What if they are there so God could show them love as His people act as if they were in that same situation.
It’s time for us to love as if we truly understood the way God has intended us to love. In action. In truth. As if it were us.
Pray for One,
Written by Pastor Jason Coache,
Lead Pastor of Wellspring Church
