love like money

So, I finished reading Blue Like Jazz a few days ago, but something keeps popping up into my mind that I want to share.

"Mr. Spencer then asked us about another area in which he felt metaphors cause trouble. He asked us to consider relationships. What metaphors do we use when we think of relationships? We value people... We invest in people, another peson added. And soon enough we had listed an entire white board of economic metaphor. Relationships could be bankrupt, we said. People are priceless. ...... The problem with Christian culture is we think of love as a commodity. We use it like money. ..... I used love like money. The church used love like money. With love, we withheld affirmation from people who do not agree with us, but we lavishly financed the ones who did. ..... I used love like money, but love doesn't work like money. It is not a commodity. When we barter with it, we all lose. When the church does not love its enemies, it fuels their rage. It makes them hate us more."


Anyways, I thought this was such a great way to look at love as we all fall short of loving everyone. Well, he ends the chapter talking about a new way to look at love:

"I replaced economic metaphor, in my mind, with something different, a free gift metaphor or a magnet metaphor. That is, instead of withholding love to change somebody, I poured it on, lavishly. I hoped that love would work like a magnet, pulling people from the mire and toward healing. I knew this was the way God loved me. God never withheld love to teach me a lesson."