Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World

by Bob Goff

Something happens when you feel ownership. You no longer act like a spectator or consumer, because you’re an owner. Faith is at its best when it’s that way too. It’s best lived when it’s owned.

You see, God usually chooses ordinary people like us to get things done.

I used to want to fix people, but now I just want to be with them.

Perhaps that’s why Jesus is sometimes called Immanuel—“God with us.” I think that’s what God had in mind, for Jesus to be present, to just be with us. It’s also what He has in mind for us when it comes to other people.

But the kind of love that God created and demonstrated is a costly one because it involves sacrifice and presence.

I used to think I had to act a certain way to follow God, but now I know God doesn’t want us to be typical.

At times I’m struck by how strange it is that the same person who has gone through so many life changes over the years can believe in this God who is still the same because He never changes.

Jesus told the people He was with that it’s not enough to just look like you love God. He said we’d know the extent of our love for God by how well we loved people.

The thing I love about God is He intentionally guides people into failure. He made us be born as little kids who can’t walk or talk or even use a bathroom correctly. We have to be taught everything. All that learning takes time, and He made us so we are dependent on Him, our parents, and each other. The whole thing is designed so we try again and again until we finally get it right. And the whole time He is endlessly patient.

I love those passages in Scripture where Jesus teaches the disciples something, saying, “I want to teach you to think differently about life.” They walked with Him for years, and some of them didn’t learn everything they needed to know until after He’d gone back to heaven. Yet, even though they were slow to learn, they still referred to themselves as His beloved.

He shows that Jesus comes looking for us because people, like sheep, have a knack for getting lost. And when He finds us, we usually aren’t dressed in a tux.

I used to think I could shape the circumstances around me, but now I know Jesus uses circumstances to shape me.

used to think God guided us by opening and closing doors, but now I know sometimes God wants us to kick some doors down.

I believe it’s true that the right people can say words that can change everything. And guess what? We’re the ones who can say them.

I used to think Jesus motivated us with ultimatums, but now I know He pursues us in love.

Like I’ve been saying, though, love is a do thing. It’s an energy that has to be dissipated.

I used to think being a believer was enough, but now I know Jesus wants us to participate, no matter what condition we’re in.

He said to them is that we all could be used, not just when we’re broken, but especially because we’re broken.

I used to think you had to be special for God to use you, but now I know you simply need to say yes.

used to think I had to be somebody important to accomplish things, but now I know Jesus uses ordinary people more.

“You know what it is about someone that makes them a friend? A friend doesn’t just say things; a friend does.”

friendship creates a whole new economy. When people realize there’s no agenda other than friendship and better understanding, it changes things.

I want to live in a new normal where I can reach out to people who are different from me and just be friends.

I used to think I needed an invitation to get into most places, but now I know I’m already invited.

It’s the invitation to actually live, to fully participate in this amazing life for one more day.

Yet Jesus told His friends they were invited anyway. In fact, He told them that the religious people weren’t the ones who decided who got into heaven and who didn’t. He said the people who followed Him should think of themselves more like the ushers rather than the bouncers, and it would be God who decides who gets in. We’re the ones who simply show people their seats that someone else paid for.

I used to think the words spoken about us describe who we are, but now I know they shape who we are.

But I do know one thing that works every time—it’s having somebody else say something good about you.

I think God speaks something meaningful into our lives and it fills us up and helps us change the world regardless of ourselves and our shortcomings. His name for us is His beloved. He hopes that we’ll believe Him like I came to believe what the coach said about me. He hopes we’ll start to see ourselves as His beloved rather than think of all of the reasons that we aren’t.

That the words people say to us not only have shelf life but have the ability to shape life.

I used to think rules were made by someone else, but now I know we get to make some of our own.

I used to think God wouldn’t talk to me, but now I know I’m just selective with what I choose to hear.

Luke told his young friend to look for many convincing proofs that Jesus is still alive. As a lawyer that sounds a lot like collecting evidence, dusting for divine fingerprints. So I’ve been dusting for fingerprints of Jesus ever since. I look for them in the things I think I understand as well as the things I know I don’t understand at all. I’m trying to figure out the direction an inaudible God is moving in, and I’m using every shard of evidence He’s left in the Bible, in my life, and all around me to do it. And you know what? It works. I

it seems that what God does most of the time when He has something to say is this . . . He doesn’t pass us messages, instead He passes us each other.

It seems like every time Jesus did an incredible thing, He would say something similar to the people nearby. He raised a little girl from the dead, and what did He say? “Tell no one.” He met a guy with leprosy and healed him, and said, “Tell no one.” He healed two guys who were blind, and He gave them one admonition before moving on: “Say nothing to anyone.” In a world driven by self-promotion and spin, Jesus modeled something different for us. Jesus was saying that instead of telling people about what we’re doing all the time, there’s a better way. One that doesn’t require any capes that can get snagged on something—something like ourselves. Maybe Jesus wants us to be secretly incredible instead. That was His plan for self-promotion. Secretly incredible people keep what they do one of God’s best-kept secrets because the only one who needs to know, the God of the universe, already knows.

Secretly incredible people just do things. To be sure, mission statements can have a purpose and statements of faith too, I suppose, but are they really necessary? I don’t think so. Most times, mission statements are just a catchy sentence or two about how noble the task is, and maybe by implication, how noble we are. The truth is, the task would probably be even nobler if we didn’t talk about it and just did it instead. It’s not about being secretive or mysterious or exclusive. It’s about doing capers without any capes.

Jesus hardly talked to anyone about what He’d done. The Bible never depicts one of those end-of-camp slideshows where Jesus goes over all He had done with His disciples. Instead, Jesus modeled that we don’t need to talk about everything we’ve done.

I used to think God was good some of the time, but now I know He’s good all the time.

I used to think there were some prisons you couldn’t escape, but now I know there’s no place I can go where God can’t rescue us.

He didn’t go back to jail because someone had reached into his darkness and prayed an audacious prayer for him that was answered.

I don’t think Bible verses were meant to be thrown like grenades at each other. They were meant for us to use to point each other toward love and grace and invite us into something much bigger.