Disruption doesn’t sound fun. Just look at this past year. The last thing we want right now is more shifting, more uncertainty, and more fear. But what if disruption was a way for us to be transformed? Jesus caused plenty of disruption in His life, but His motivation was always love, and to see us made into His image. In our recent staff conference, Danielle Strickland spoke on how disruption isn’t the end of the world, and how Jesus’ disruptive love changes everything.
When I began watching her online talk, I had no idea what she meant by disruptive love. The words seemed contradictory — how could something reassuring like love be disruptive?
But Danielle is very clear that when love is really being love, it is disruptive by nature. “Love always goes out of its way to get in the way of injustice, oppression, and pain.” She points out that “the reason we are willing to be disruptive, the reason we’re willing to go out of our way to get in the way, is because that’s the direction of love. Love is disruptive and confrontational. Love is not afraid.”
That makes a lot of sense to me. After all, when we love someone, how can we watch them suffer and do nothing about it?
After this past year, I wasn’t exactly interested in more disruption. It’s uncomfortable. And that isn’t a new feeling. Danielle breaks down how when Jesus disrupted people’s lives, they sometimes wanted Him to leave them alone. They weren’t ok with the amount of change that He brought.
When Jesus freed a possessed man from a legion of demons and sent them into a herd of pigs, the people who witnessed this miracle were scared. They saw that His disruptive love changes everything, and backed away. It was too frightening.
I think many of us can relate to that. But we can choose to respond differently. As Danielle says, we can “see this disruption as love’s greatest invitation for you to be transformed. For you to grow in your love for people, to grow in your willingness to be transformed, so that we can experience all that He has for us.”
We have the opportunity to stop resisting and start asking questions: If Jesus’ disruptive love changes everything, how can I willingly let it change me, and lean into the Kingdom-bringing shifts that Jesus is making in my life?
What would it look like for you to truly believe Jesus’ disruptive love changes everything? Are you willing to let it transform you and shape how you love others?
You can watch Danielle’s full talk here.
