To all my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, I implore you to just be real. Be real with yourself, be real with each other!

I remember when I asked God to give me a community, I knew it was a real deal. I knew it was going to change me forever. As someone who’s shy and a bit introverted, I’ve never been the type to have 3 billion friends. You would always see me alone or with the same 2-3 people. But I also knew that I couldn’t and neither wanted to be forever alone. And as a Christian, I understood even more the importance of fellowship, friendship, companionship, and any type of ship at this point.

Besides, God never intended for us to be lonely. From the beginning of creation, the first time God saw that something wasn’t good was for man to be alone.

Anyhow, the past few months have been a majestic and crazy journey for me. I’ve discovered a new definition of friendship and love, of having people who support you and hold you accountable, of having people you can both cry and laugh with. I’ve broken patterns, set new boundaries, rediscovered, and reintroduced myself. And man! I know the Lord is sooooo not done with me.

However, there is something that breaks my heart when it comes to Christians. We’ve been called to love, and I see way too many Christians holding back on it, or even gatekeeping it.

I cry when the love is not returned, I cry when the friendship is not reciprocated. But mostly when it’s faked, or rather, calculated.

A boatload of people refuses to give their life to Christ because when they see those who are supposed to represent Him, they see hypocrites and frigid people who live by a bunch of rules. We’re supposed to be free and yet we’re the ones bounding ourselves with formalities. It feels just like when we were in the world and people were playing games.

It is written to not lean on our own understanding, and yet we created a plethora of unspoken rules, and chose to follow them. Based on what? Fear. Shall we not walk by faith and not by sight?

Let me tell you, it is okay to make mistakes. I’ve hurt some friends. Not on purpose, but by a lack of compassion, a misunderstanding, or a misuse of some words, but at the very least I was real, I was authentic. I was acting and speaking from the heart, and I knew that whatever was the outcome, it was God’s will.

You’re not at your first mistake and not the last one either, and it is perfectly fine just as it is. We are humans, we are sinners, but we’ve been redeemed. We are forgiven and will never be forsaken. So let us be guided by our heart, our spirit, our love, our faith.

Why are we trying to regulate that love? Is that how God loves us? Only at certain hours? Or places?

Let yourself be a vessel of God.

We talk so often about how hard it is to love your enemy, but can you love those around you without letting the perversion of the world fog your mind?

Go tell a brother or a sister that you love them and mean it. Tell them until they’re sick of you. Lord! Love them so much that they feel overwhelmed with it, they’ll have no choice but to pour out some love into someone else.

I pray that we are a united church. I pray that every person that meets us, encounters God through us. That we don’t even need to open our mouth for them to know that we are serving a God who is good and merciful and loving. That whenever someone meets our eyes or our smiles, they’re filled with that love that is our fuel.

Go be blessed!

HLL