Love wins.

Recently, my wife Laura and I passed a car with a bumper sticker that read simply, "Love Wins."  The sticker is from the terrific book by the same name by Rob Bell (also available at amazon.com). 

Laura said, "If I had to boil my theology down to two words, that's it."  I said, "You're absolutely right.  I think that's my theology in two words, too."

Love wins.

Love's victory may not happen immediately (as a result, impatient people will say it's not enough).  Love's victory may not happen as fast as we want (as a result, anxious people will say we need to try something else).  Love's victory may not look exactly the way we want (as a result, rigid people will say.it's not really working).

But if the story of Jesus teaches us anything, it is that love wins.  Those two words contain all the hope you need.  Those two words can also contain all the suffering in the world.  Love wins.  It's the only thing that really wins.

If you are looking for a two-word summary of the Christian gospel (or is it only pastors who dig two-word summaries of the gospel?), in my humble opinion, there it is.

(If you want one of those bumper stickers, you can click here.  They're available from the Mars Hill Church, and they cost a dollar.)