Love God. Love People. - Part 1

Depending which translation you read, the word “love” is referenced at least 51 times in the New Testament of the Holy Bible.

It is called “the greatest” when compared to “faith” and “hope”. Given the meanings of the words “faith” and “hope”, that says a lot.

Jesus even said the world around us will know us by our love.

All of this is true. All of this is well and good. But there is a problem…

What does “love” mean?

I don’t ask that because I am super creative or want to have a philosophical discussion to broaden my mental perspectives… I’m honestly not that smart. I ask this question because I am curious how Christ followers, myself included, have allowed something that is mentioned so many times, and with such great weight to go undefined for so long? Can you define love? I can’t. If you can, ask the person beside you their definition. I bet you a steak dinner its not the same as yours.

Its strange, I can tell you all day long what faith is — believing in something you can’t see or fully explain. I know what hope is — believing something will happen or come in spite of a current situation. But the definition of love, the greatest among those, has been defined by my life experiences and/or whimsical emotions.

The world has allowed love to be defined perspectively, that is everyone’s definition is allowed to differ based on their individualistic life experiences. What’s worse? Christians (to this point) have followed suit. This can’t be. “They will know you by your love.” How can we be known by something that we don’t even know ourselves? We must take the lead on this. We must declare what love truly is.

My hope is that over the next several weeks we can begin a conversation on this page attempting to decipher exactly what “love” really means. The greatest commandment, and the reason Unthinkable exists, is to love God and love people. In order to know how to love anything, especially God and his people, we must first understand what love is.

See you Tuesday, September 7th for Part 2 of “Love God. Love People.”.

Jonathan

New Blog Series: Love God. Love People.

The mission for Unthinkable is simple: 

We exist to lead the world to love God and love people.

As a new organization, we understand that just stating our mission does very little for its progression, especially when your mission involves the word “love”. Because of this, I will be writing a new blog post every week, beginning Tuesday, August 31st, to discuss what this looks like for a modern day Christ-follower.

There are so many questions that come from the statement “Love God. Love People.”. What is love? How do you express it? Where is it derived from? How do you love people who are “unlovable”? These are just a few.

But here is what we want from you, we want to know what you want to know about. We also want to know your thoughts on “Love God. Love People.”. So send them in! You can head over to the “Ask” page of Unthinkable’s website and ask whatever question you would like or state whatever thought you may have.

We will prioritize questions and input that utilize proper grammar. Priority will also placed on users who sign in, rather than simply commenting anonymously. 

Help us begin the discussion! Together, we can lead the WORLD to love God and love people!

- Goode

Help The Unthinkable Movement.

Do you have a desire to help forward the Unthinkable Movement?

Are you willing to work really hard for cheap free?

Unthinkable is currently looking for volunteers in several areas, primarily people who are strong in the fields of networking, marketing, and/or graphic design.

While you won’t make much money or bling anything out by helping us, you will gain experience that will likely enhance whatever professional or personal life you may have.

To begin a dialogue about helping us forward this Unthinkable Movement, please email us at serve@beunthinkable.org.

Also, if you feel like the fields above do not define any part of your skill set, but you would still like to find out more about serving, don’t hesitate to email us as well. While those are our specific needs, we are always looking for great partners to help fulfill our “Love God. Love People.” mission.

The New Home of Unthinkable’s One21!

For those of you who haven’t been around, One21 is Unthinkable’s local expression in Atlanta, our home community. Our hope with Unthinkable’s One21 is to build a community in Atlanta that exists to love God and love people. We accomplish this through a collaboration of service, worship and teaching.

Our gatherings are held at 8:00PM every second Friday of the month, with various socials and service projects happening in between gatherings. When we began, we did so with very little clarity of direction, we simply responding to the leaning our team felt was from God. Over the course of the past year, that vision has been refined and developed into what it is today. 

Between October 2009 and May 2010, we met at many various places. Among them were Kingswood Church in Dunwoody, First United Methodist Church in Downtown Atlanta, Vinings United Methodist Church in Vinings, and our most consistent home, Grace Midtown. Those churches have helped us and provided for us in so many amazing ways, and serving along side each of them was a complete honor. However, we now feel it is time to have a permanent church home. With that in mind, I am happy to announce that Unthinkable’s One21 will be held at Blue Print Church beginning Friday, Sept. 10, 2010! 

We will have more information and details coming very soon, but I am so excited to finally get to announce Unthinkable’s partnering journey with the amazing people and team at Blue Print Church! Together, we will lead Atlanta to love God and love people!