Doug Van Pelt

God is Love

I just finished watching and reviewing the Johnny Knoxville movie/DVD The Ringer. In this movie the Special Olympics plays a central role. It's so wonderful to see love in action with groups like Special Olympics. The epitomy of love is putting the needs of someone else above your own. This is seen in the millions of volunteers that help out with this organization; and it's seen by the athletes themselves. There are many cases in a track meet race where, if one runner falls, other runners will stop to pick that fallen comrade up and help him or her get going again -- many times at the expense of their finishing place. People that work with Special Olympics are cool. They don't psyche themselves up into believing that "special needs people are special." They know it to be true. They have gained immeasurable experience, love, wisdom, and joy from these fellow humans. They don't just think or believe this to be true -- they know it from experience.

While our society often places value on people (remember the role-playing game of "Lifeboat?"), they are wrong. Like I mentioned in a recent blog, whoever your eyes see as "the least of these," realizing that you're wrong and giving that person the value that he or she deserves is one of the most right things you can do. I remember visiting some orphanages in Russia several years ago. I was told and could kind of tell that the Soviet Union did not place a high priority on the individual (duh), and even less of a priority on an individual with a disability or an abandoned, orphaned child. Even more shocking was the fact that people who worked in these orphanages and cared for them were treated with disdain, as though they were pursuing a useless career. (shudder) This is human nature at its hideous side.

One thing Special Olympics has done is reversed the false thinking around much of the world about people that have physical or mental challenges in their lives. It's truly become a phenomenon that has changed the world. I see that as a very real and tangible evidence of the love of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit on this Earth. While love is not to be monopolized by Christians, it is the very nature of the One True God that made all of this and all of us. Seeing it expressed is a wonderful thing and a beautiful thing. And it doesn't have to have the visible or audible stamp of "this is done in the Name of Jesus." Sometimes us evangelical Christians are so narrow-minded about the Second Coming of Christ and evangelizing the world in obedience to the Great Commission that we lose sight of the simplest of commands to love one another. Celebrating love is a fantastic thing that (I believe) God doesn't have to get the credit for. No one does. That's like doing a good deed but not resting or feeling fulfilled until you get the credit for that good deed. That's not love. That's being a boy scout and persuing merit badges for vain glory and status symbols.

Winning people to the kingdom of God and having their souls saved from a jacked-up life separated from God is an incredible thing. There is much love in that. However, having to take credit for every act of love "for our team" is just ridiculous. I don't know if the people who started or helped launch Special Olympics were Christians or not (it wouldn't surprise me if they were), but it doesn't matter who the love was expressed through. Love originates from God and He doesn't make it something that we have to pledge to a certain creed to grab onto, experience and give.

One of the funnest parts about knowing God, in fact, is being able to do silent good deeds where possibly no one else on Earth will know about it, but we can share a cool little secret like that with our Father in Heaven. I'm sure He delights in that kind of stuff.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at May 16, 2006 10:12 AM