Jesus Loves You This I Know: Craig Gross & Jason Harper

I had this crazy Christian roommate in college named Ethan. One night while I was diligently studying, as I was oft to do, he busts through the door to our room and shouts, “Hey, you’ve got some sandwich stuff in the fridge, right?” all loud and out of breath like he’d just run all the way home starving.
“Sure.” I said.
So, he makes the sandwich and heads for the door. “Hey, where are you going?” I asked.
“Oh, its not for me, its for this homeless guy outside.”
I was pissed. Ethan was welcome to it but not some homeless guy outside. Its been 14 years and I’m not sure if I’ve learned my lesson yet.

Oh, I know what the lesson is, and I can tell you why I should have gotten up and gone with him but I didn’t. The whole point of this “Life” thing is love. Most of us stop at God’s message of forgiveness and miss that His goal- the reason he had to forgive us- is to connect with us. For Him to love us and for us to love Him, and in turn, each other.

As the “Church” when there are discrepancies between what we preach and the way we act – what I mean is, when we say “Jesus loves you,” but then we ACT LIKE JERKS, CUT PEOPLE OFF IN TRAFFIC WITH A JESUS FISH ON THE BUMPER, AND DON’T LEAVE A DECENT TIP AT SUNDAY LUNCH FOR THE SINGLE MOTHER BUSTIN HER… I digress- people end up turning their backs on us hypocrites, and in turn reject Christ because they see how his followers treat them with disdain. I have a very hard time with this behavior because I am a very large Jerk (more like an Ass but “Christians” shouldn’t talk that way). If I don’t find value in you then I start looking for your faults and then I use those faults to separate myself from you. The insane part is that I feel my calling is as an “encourager,” my new name I’ve been given is “Barnabas,” (more on that later). So, which side of the battle is helped more when I indulge in my Jerkness?

To My/Our Aid:

Craig Gross and Jason Harper of XXXChurch.com (you remember, “The #1 Christian Porn Site” have written a new book that talks to two groups of people, those who’ve never known Jesus’ love and those who are supposed to know it but don’t show it so well (Perhaps that’s just one group of people afterall). Each chapter deals with people of a specific personality type, situation, or circumstance and reveals how Jesus loves them and how I can begin to show them love (remember “Side Hugs” only for the ladies).  The stories in each chapter are stirring, inspiring, and strangely practical. As I read I kept thinking over and over, “I could do that,” or “That would be easy I wish I’d thought of it.”

To quote the book’s introduction:

“Jesus Loves You.
The all-encompassing “you” means that the love of Jesus leaves no one out. We hope this book will compel people to see that, regardless of where they have been or what they have gone through, there is a love that endures all things.

If you’re forgotten… love finds.
If you’re broken … love mends.
If you’re an outcast … love includes.
No matter what … believe us, love works.

If you have been a Christian for a while, we want to help you review the footsteps of Jesus… rethink his approach to a hurting humanity and strive to live it out…”

From a guy some of us have heard of:

“Did you sing the song Jesus Loves Me when you were a kid? For most of us, it is so much easier to embrace Christ’s love when we’re
young. Then sin, shame, and guilt get in the way. Jesus Loves You . . . This I Know brings a powerful perspective to the biblical truth of
the undeserving, unending, beautiful love of Jesus. You’ll be inspired, motivated, and challenged to actively pursue others with the passionate love of the Savior.”
—Craig Groeschel, author of Confessions of a Pastor and Chazown

Learn more about the book here: http://www.jesuslovesyou.net/#about
More about the movement: www.jesuslovesyou.net
Watch videos here: http://www.jesuslovesyou.net/#watch
Follow them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jesusheartsu