Truly Troubling Times & Radical Love

I just read an amazing blog entry from Rachel Held Evans and was inspired by her words, heart, sentiment, and sincerity. 
(Please read it, she makes some amazing points: Rachel Held Evans: Walking the Second Mile: Jesus, Discrimination, and ‘Religious Freedom’ )
I wanted to add something more, a solution, a timeless answer. 

My thoughts: 

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him." 

"This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. ... We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ... 

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?  

Dear children,let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.  This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:   

If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.  Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 

And this is his command:  to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. "

Not the words of a modern day pulpit minister, but text from 1 John. 

When Did Selfless Christian Love Become Radical and Foreign to Us as American Christians?

I am pretty sure we were given a command long ago, before any of our lifetimes began, with the book we cling to, with the words that we claim to live by. We were given orders, a purpose, a meaning of life.  

We are called to LOVE.  

When did "love" become radical?

When did selfless service and love to those in need become "radical"?   

It has always been radical!

Yet, it is exactly what should be expected.

It is what people who claim to live for God are commanded to do.

We can reach people by loving selflessly and going above and beyond to serve. 
I supposed the next question is "Serve who?"
Well, read the bible, it is in there. 
Are you ready? EVERYONE!
Is there anyone we are especially called to love more than others? YES!
Who?!  Our enemies!  (In modern American context, I suppose that has come to mean, "Those who disagree with us and with whom we disagree." So, we are called to love everyone, even those we see as our spiritual enemies? Yep!)

We have been given the perfect means of successful "Outreach"... 
Reaching out, selflessness, radical service. Not only to those in our same school of thought, but to everyone, especially our enemies. That isn't easy, but the life of a radical seldom is. The life of a Christian isn't called to ease, but to action, through faith. 

The next question is, "HOW?!?" 
Well, by being mindful of people, by listening, and by looking for opportunities to do things for those around us.
Some service is big: Habitat for Humanity and building houses... 
Some service is small: picking up something for someone who dropped it...
Just serve and be mindful of the needs of those around us. 

People will take notice. People will ask why. 
It is perfect because it is something not of this world. 
It is commanded of us by being set apart, in our actions of service. 
We are called to love and serve above and beyond.

That is what makes people take notice. That is why people are interested in our lives, because we practice something different; not only with our words, but with out hands, our hearts, our wallets, our time, and our lives.

Revolutionary love, radical love, selfless service to anyone everyone, without discrimination, hesitation, nor limitation. THAT is what is supposed to define us as a people called by God; for works according to His purpose, guided by HIS spirit, for the service of all, and the proclamation of the TRUTH through more than words, but lives.

Selfless service. Revolutionary service. 

Radical selflessness. Amazing LOVE.