it all comes down to this:

I am very good at starting books. starting them. Unfortunately finishing them is another story. I am currently reading 4 different books with the intention of finishing each and everyone of them. We'll see what happens.

Anywho, one of the books that I am reading right now is Crazy Love by Francis Chan. From the bottom of my heart I beseech you to read it. You will be encouraged. You will be convicted. And you will be stirred on. Seriously.

So today I read for a little bit and after <2 pages, I found myself feeling like I'd been punched in the stomach. In a good way (what?!) Basically, I was reading about Jesus and love, the two main topics covered in the book and Francis began discussing a passage from Matthew 25. It's the part when Jesus is telling his disciples what he is going to say to a number of people on the last day:

'For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'

Then Francis posed this question: How would our lives change if we actually saw each person that we came into contact with as Christ?

The greatest command is to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbor as ourself. If you ask me, this gets thrown around so much that we often miss the weight of what it is actually commanding. Jesus is connecting the command to love God with the command to love our neighbor and is suggesting that by loving "the least of these" we are loving God himself. So this is my challenge to you (and to me too, obviously): Try to see each person that you come into contact with as Christ and an opportunity to love him by loving them. I guarantee it will blow your mind.