Let 2011 be the year that Love breaks through in you. I’m thinking of an old Keith Green song that goes, “I was lost in a fantasy that blinded me until Your love broke through.” That’s what I hope you want.

Let love break through in your world to show that there is a different and better way to live. That it’s not all about fame or money or sex or thrills or late-night partying. That love (as in the love of Christ poured into your heart and overflowing to the world) can conquer hate, fear, shame, or doubt. Love will convince people that you are for real, not correct doctrine or proper procedures and practices.

Let love break through in your life. Let your life be so radically different from the norm that people are forced to notice. Let your life be a compliment to your profession of faith and not a detriment to it. Love not just people who are like you or who are easy to love. Don’t just love the picture-perfect pretty people. Love the broken, the hopeless, the outcast, and the weak. Love those who can’t love you back. That kind of love always draws attention to Jesus, because who could love like that apart from Him?

Let love break through your heart. May you be captured and captivated by a Love that never gave up and will never quit. May Jesus become everything to you and everything else fall away. Let your heart be broken by what breaks God’s heart. When love breaks through, you change from selfishly fulfilling your own lusts and desires to learning to give your life away.

So, say YES to the love of Jesus every single day (and every single moment the thought comes into your mind). Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. Get rid of anything that distracts or detracts or takes away from the love of God being able to invade you and those around you through you.

Jesus, we will be Your feet to go to the ends of the earth, Your hands to reach out to the poor and needy, Your eyes to see the need and weep over those who suffer, and Your heart to love these people so radically that they don’t see us anymore, but You.

Amen and amen.