Years ago, a kid in my youth group named Zack called me on the last day of school in a panic. I'd agreed to sign off on his senior project, a website for our youth group, and after a whole year of "almost done," he needed my signature in fifteen minutes or he wouldn't graduate. So I drove to my old high school, and on the way I may have slipped his geometry teacher a note to read aloud: "Zack, your brother's here. He brought your underwear. He says everything's going to be okay." The class roared. Zack went bright red and blurted, "I don't have a brother!" Then I tapped on the window. That day, I was his brother.
Here's what you wouldn't know about Zack just by looking at him. He wore a McDonald's manager shirt by senior year because he worked nearly every day to help his single mom pay the bills. He was working to help his sister and mom survive. Suddenly his unfinished project made a lot more sense. When you understand someone's story, you stop judging how they carry it and start caring.
This week we looked at one of the most misread verses in the Bible: "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." We hear "perfect" and think flawless, mistake-free, anxious to measure up. But the Greek word is telios, and it means whole or complete. It's about your inside matching your outside, your heart and your actions lining up, instead of the divided, whitewashed life Jesus warned the Pharisees about.
And wholeness, it turns out, looks like overflowing love. Jesus said don't just love your neighbor, love your enemy, because the Father sends sun and rain on the good and the evil alike. He keeps stretching us outward in widening circles, from family to friends to strangers to the people we'd rather avoid, always asking for one more step. The golden rule is the key: treat others the way you'd want to be treated. Love is an act of imagination. Picture that person as your own family, and act accordingly.
So this Father's Day, the invitation is twofold. Receive the Father's overflowing love, and then let it overflow out of you to someone who needs it.
We'd love to have you join us. Garden City Church meets every Sunday at 10:00 AM in Tacoma. Come as you are, whether you've walked with Jesus for years or you're just curious and checking things out. This is a place you can belong before you believe. Find us at gardencitynw.com for directions and what to expect.
- Pastor George