Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People

by Bob Goff

Yet, the incredible message Love came to earth to give was that we’re all tied for first in God’s mind.

Jesus talked to His friends a lot about how we should identify ourselves. He said it wouldn’t be what we said we believed or all the good we hoped to do someday. Nope, He said we would identify ourselves simply by how we loved people. It’s tempting to think there is more to it, but there’s not. Love isn’t something we fall into; love is someone we become.

There’s a difference between good judgment and living in judgment. The trick is to use lots of the first and to go a little lighter on the second.

Those who are becoming love don’t throw people off roofs; they lower people through them instead.

Arguments won’t change people. Simply giving away kindness won’t either. Only Jesus has the power to change people, and it will be harder for them to see Jesus if their view of Him is blocked by our big opinions.

When joy is a habit, love is a reflex.

Instead of telling people what they want, we need to tell them who they are. This works every time. We’ll become in our lives whoever the people we love the most say we are.

If we want a kingdom, then we start the way grace did, by drawing a circle around everyone and saying they’re in. Kingdoms are built from the people up. There’s no set of plans—just Jesus.

They treat them with love and respect and are more eager to learn from them than presume they have something to teach.

I bet this is what Jesus meant when He told His friends that people would understand who He was by watching how we treated each other. Early on I thought big acts of generosity or great sermons or arenas full of people singing songs would help us understand God’s love for us. He said it was none of these. Jesus told His friends that letting people see the way we love each other would be the best way to let people know about Him. It wouldn’t be because we’d given them a lot of directions or instructions or because they memorized or studied all the right things. It would be because someone met you or me and felt as if they’d just met Jesus. I think what He meant was He wanted someone to meet a

person who loved Him and then feel like they had just met heaven— everyone there.

That’s our job. It’s always been our job. We’re supposed to just love the people in front of us. We’re the ones who tell them who they are. We don’t need to spend as much time as we do telling people what we think about what they’re doing. Loving people doesn’t mean we need to control their conduct.

Do you want to do something amazing for God? Trade the appearance of being close to God for the power of actually being close to God. Quit talking a big game and go live a big faith. One of Jesus’ friends said if we want to get it right, we need to live a life worthy of the calling we’ve received. The call is to love God and the people around us while we live into the most authentic version of ourselves. We weren’t just an idea God hoped would work out someday. We were one of His most creative expressions of love, ever. Lose the wax. Don’t fake it; sync it up. Go be you.

He wants our hearts, not our help.

Instead of saying you’re a missionary, why not just go somewhere to learn about your faith from the people you find there and be as helpful as you can be? The neat part is most of the people I know who go on “mission trips” are already doing exactly that. We don’t need to call everything we do “ministry” anymore either. Just call it Tuesday. That’s what people who are becoming love do.

The promise of love and grace in our lives is this: Our worst day isn’t bad enough, and our best day isn’t good enough. We’re invited because we’re loved, not because we earned it.

Sometimes He changes the trajectory of our plans by taking away what we’ve comfortably known and letting us fly through valleys that are deeper and narrower than any we’ve been through before.

Here’s the reason why: people who are becoming love try impossible things because they’ve surrounded themselves with voices they can trust.

just keep bringing whatever you have to God and let Him decide what He’ll do with it.

The people who have shaped my faith the most did the same for me. They didn’t try to teach me anything; they let me know they trusted me. And that taught me everything. Those moments are forever etched into who I am. I think God does the same with us.