A People Undeserving

The precious blood of Jesus Christ redeems
forgiven I’m alive, restored, set free

Your majesty resides inside of me
forever I believe, forever I believe

Arrested by Your truth and righteousness
Your grace has overwhelmed my brokenness
Convicted by Your spirit, led by Your word

Your love will never fail
Your love will never fail

I know You gave the world Your only Son for us
to know Your name To live within the Savior's love
and He took my place knowing
He’d be crucified and You loved...
You loved a people undeserving

I am not sure who originally wrote/sang this song but our worship leader has been playing it often at church. today while we were all singing it, the last line really struck me..

"You loved a people undeserving"

Today was the final week of our fall Vision Series at Austin Stone (http://www.austinstone.org/)
and it has definitely been a challenging one. Our small group is still moving through it and are only on week 3 right now. The whole heart behind this series is that God has called us to be a church FOR the city-not just a church in the city. That we are called to be Christ like in our actions and that means actively loving and serving those around us.

That last line of the song above really stuck me today because it just reminded me that loving people isn't always easy. In reality, no one is less deserving of love than another. We are all broken and all in need of a Saviour, but we (I at least) often categorize people within my heart and mind and sometimes loving people is messy and hard and annoying and inconvenient. Sometimes I would rather just walk away, go back to my safe cubical at work or go hang out with my husband. But the truth is God hasn't called us to love those around us when it works for us and feels good; He hasn't called us just to love the children or the struggling single mom. He has called us and is calling us to love the addict, the convicted "criminal" , the homeless guy on the corner screaming obscenities to passing cars, the person in your life who will argue, mock and challenge your faith daily if given the chance - those people that just make you uncomfortable. That's a hard reality for me to accept sometimes because, well, it's really scary.