Preemptive Love

Steffani arrived to Yangon on September 3rd and I couldn't be happier to FINALLY be spending time together in the same place, face to face.  God was gracious enough to bless her with a job right away and a full-time decent paying job at that!  We praise Him for His provision, both during her time at home this summer and for landing a job immediately when she got here.

It has been so good to have Steffani here, I can't even describe it properly with words.  I am learning, slowly but surely, how to love this woman whom God has blessed me with.  Loving others well is so hard sometimes, isn't it?  It can be especially difficult to love the ones you're closest to, whether that is family or a significant other.  

Thankfully, I am having a very easy job of loving Steffani right now, we're engaged after all.  I am not naive enough to believe butterflies will last forever.  It is especially important now to set up some ways that we can love each other well even when the newness wears off.  Marriage is tough from what I understand.  Love is tough from personal experience.  Thank God we're both Christian and have a God who sets the example in how to love others well.

We are called to love everyone, whether family, friends, or enemies.  Jesus sets a higher standard in the New Testament with the loving your enemies bit, doesn't He?  That is so incredibly difficult when you look at the world today.  So many acts of war are done in the Name of God, it can be very discouraging.  There is still hope, and we have to hold onto that at the very least.

I heard of an organization in Iraq called 'Preemptive Love Coalition' that does something truly unique.  They have Iraqis make shoes and then sell them.  They take some of the profits and fund heart surgeries for Iraqis.  The reason I like this organization so much is it's in direct opposition to preemptive war.  Imagine a world where preemptive love is taken more seriously than preemptive war.

What would be the consequences of preemptive love?  We’ve seen the consequences of preemptive war rear their ugly head again here lately.  I sincerely believe IS is a direct result of our preemptive war actions in Iraq back in 2003.  Now we seem hell bent on repeating the same pattern.  We bomb them, it was shock and awe back in 2003 and now it’s just a smaller version of the same tactic.

Anyway, back to the original question; what would the consequences of preemptive love be?  For starters, Christians would go out to their communities and neighborhoods instead of trying to bring people into their church buildings.  This has already started happening and in fact has been a huge part of our Christian history across cultures and nations.  When we follow Christ’s example of sacrificial love, it speaks volumes of our beliefs.  The old adage actions speak louder than words is especially apt.

Let’s strike our enemies with preemptive love instead of preemptive war.  What if we went in to hotspots and lived among people groups who were under persecution?  I know of one couple who did that where I currently am residing, at least in a neighboring state.  They had to flee a mob of people who were angry international NGO’s were helping the persecuted minority group.  That is an example of the preemptive love I think we should be an example of.