Have you heard the latest? Molly kicked Spencer out of the house because he was having an affair with Carolina. On top of that he got into a big fight with Victor and fired him from 6:8 Ministries!
These are the rumors that I returned home to a couple days ago. It's tragically sad, and at the same time ridiculously funny. Over the past three years there have been rumors of me being an adulterer, pedophile, and a drug dealer.
When I first moved to Costa Rica I was discouraged by the lies that were being spread about me. The same people I was trying to help were the ones spreading the hurtful lies. However, the most frustrating part was that most of the lies were rooted in my attempts to love like Christ. What I've learned is that the world can't understand true Christian love.
The voice of a lost and broken world says: "Nobody gives away a new house, he must be sleeping with her.", "Why would a middle-aged man spend time hanging out with teens? He must be some kind of sick pedophile!", "Spencer has money and spends time with the drug-addicts, he must be a drug dealer."
It would be easy to allow these lies to cause me to become cynical and jaded. Honestly, sometimes I just want to quit trying, or at a minimum give the same weak and conditional love in return. However, quitting would be tragic and would allow the enemy to win. Furthermore, a choice to love like the world is a choice to not to love at all.
In contrast, when my love is rooted in Christ it's powerful and life changing! Christ-like love is unconditional and always requires some level of sacrifice. I guess it comes down to a simple reality. Can I love those who hate and speak lies against me? Is my love for others contingent on being loved in return?
Truth is, I rarely get it right and I fail more times than I succeed. However, I'm learning. The more I experience Christ's love for me; the more natural it feels to try to love others the same way.
So I'm asking you to join me in learning to love better. Let's love sacrificially and unconditionally. Let's love with a crazy love the world won't understand; and in the process we can change the world!
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me." - Jesus
Love and miss you all,
Spencer
