Extreme love

Have you ever had someone watch a YouTube video clip and make all kinds of “Uhh, Ahh” sounds and commentate with exclamations like, “Unbelievable, “That’s insane,” “These guys are crazy,” “You’ve got to watch this.” A few days ago Susie was watching a clip sitting in her recliner and let me know that I had to watch this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PBwENlkUoI). She stuck her ipad under my nose and pushed play and all I can say is, “Wow!” “That’s insane,” “These guys are crazy.”Susie asked me if I would want to do something like that? I have to confess, I think it would be awesome, but they would have to double diaper me, then again maybe I am just trying to seem super adventurous and daring. But people do extreme things that leave you breathless just watching, and for many of those things you have to be in really good shape, which might be the reason most of us are better at watching this extreme stuff than executing it ourselves.Jumping off cliffs, free climbing Half Dome, surfing on 60 foot waves, starring down sharks, or doing flips on motorcycles is not the only definition of extreme. I once wandered into a quilting convention. The level they took quilting to was extreme. I told Susie, “You’ve got to see this!” Looking at what they created was nothing short of “Wow!” I watched Tommy Emmanuel perform “Mombasa” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k8EQ1aPzcw) and had to show it to the drummers of our worship team – “Wow!” “Incredible!” “Extreme.”Of course this pastor’s note is not about getting you to watch more YouTube; it’s about taking love to the extreme in real life. You don’t have to be in superb physical condition or possess some mad skill to love to the extreme. But you cannot be a spectator, you will have to get up and do it, you will have to learn it, to practice it, take risks, and push it to higher and higher levels. Love is the one thing God wants us to take to the extreme, for us to push to its limits, and higher still, both our love for God himself and our love for others. When it came to love the Apostle Paul’s challenge to the Thessalonian believers was to “excel still more,” - “Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more” 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 (NASB).So who are the people God is putting in front of you that provide you with an opportunity to take love to the extreme? What are the circumstances God is allowing in your life that that motion to you to love to the extreme but it feels as scary as standing on mountain ledge in winged suit right before you jump? What are you simply content to watch without engaging yourself? “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God” Ephesians 5:1-2 (NLT). The example of Christ is that when stood at the edge of eternity and looked down in to the valley and darkness of human history and saw the sinfulness, the brokenness, the depravity, the lostness, and hopelessness of humankind it was extreme love that made him jump.To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans