Real Love In An Angry World: How to stick to your convictions without alienating people

By Rick Bezet

Real Love In An Angry World: How to stick to your convictions without alienating people is a must-read for anyone who feels fed up, frustrated or without hope for the current state of our country.

As the Founder and Lead Pastor of New Life Church in Arkansas, Rick Bezet uses his theological background and natural comedic personality to help Christians navigate how to apply real love in an angry world. Being very transparent and straight-forward, Rick doesn’t sugar-coat anything but rather “tells it like it is” and encourages those who claim to follow Christ to step up, shine a light and make a difference in our big, dark, fallen world.

Like a breath of fresh air, Rick compares real life examples of hatred, anger, ignorance, and hypocrisy in today’s culture to the invigorating truth of the gospel to show us that the solution to our problems is the same now as it was back then – REAL LOVE.

What is “real love” you may be wondering? Real love is loving like Jesus loved. Real love is not judgmental, nor does it condemn or condone.

While living on earth, Jesus had many enemies on various ends of the spectrum but chose to speak truth through a love coated with wisdom, grace and kindness. Likewise, Jesus was friends with sinners and what many considered to be “the least of these” because He believed the sick needed a doctor more than healthy. Even though He regularly had meals with these people and spent time investing in them, He never chose to participate in their sinful behavior or condemn them for what they were doing. Instead, He chose to love without any conditions. This is a very rare concept in our culture today when everyone wants to be “right” or “correct” and if someone doesn’t agree with your opinion then you choose to write them off, fight back or show judgment. Conversely, it is very easy to not turn to the Bible for tough stuff like same-sex attraction or substance addiction but rather to give these culture-inspired topics a free pass of acceptance. Whether you are condemning or condoning, this is not love and this is not how God wants us to interact with His people.

Reading Real Love has given me a new perspective on how to treat, care and love others who are different from me. That is a valuable gift I certainly don’t take for granted. I personally loved all of the scripture that was weaved throughout this book. Rick chose specific examples from the Bible that describe events very similar to what Americans are currently facing today. Additionally, he did a thorough job at explaining each passage in the Bible and how it relates to what the people were experiencing back in Jesus’ day. It never ceases to amaze me how applicable and relevant ancient scripture is to the issues we face today – the events may be different but the problems are still very much the same.

I would recommend Real Love to every American Christian because of its unique approach on how to conquer the current state of hate in our nation. From connecting with community and pursuing biblical hospitality to disagreeing politically and condoning certain worldly behaviors, Real Love encourages Christians to stop complaining and start doing. It all begins and ends with the simple, yet most challenging, act of love.

*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review