Love your enemies…
Love your neighbors as yourself…
Love one another as I have loved you…
What a calling that is!
The last few weeks have been so turbulent. It seems as if there is evil and brokenness everywhere I look. Two weeks ago, the three tragic events in Orlando and the aftermath of those events have left me sad, angry and now convicted. How can a person murder a beautiful, talented , kind 22 year old? And another because of his beliefs takes the lives of 49 people injuring many more… Why do we feel the need to attack each other about political issues rather than grieving as a community and then working together to look for solutions by learning from each other’s point of view. Instead, we attack each other shutting down conversation. The Bible tells us that we all possess knowledge. But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Instead, we live and reflect the world’s view- Love your neighbor, hate your enemy. And it seems that the enemy is sometimes broadly defined these days based on those who believe differently, look different or somehow don’t fit our idea of perfection. We do not love them. We judge them.
And why do we feel the need in the face of a tragic accident to attack a family who is mourning the loss of their two old year son? Can we honestly say that we have never made a bad decision, or been distracted or were not aware of potential dangers? Is that loving our neighbor as ourselves? We react when see a story about children bullying each other and yet adults are doing the same thing across social media? It’s everywhere. Just open Facebook or Twitter up. I remember being shocked at what grown-ups were tweeting about 17 year olds during college signing day who chose a school perhaps different than a school that they made a verbal commitment to. They are kids making an important decision and had every right to switch. But, the vitriol by adults was horrifying. The political rhetoric among friends is staggering much less the politicians. We don't talk, we accuse. Its somehow become a normal method discourse. How do we expect our kids to behave in respectful and kind ways when we don’t?
Even beyond that weekend, I have seen a story recently about a Doctor who encouraged a family to abort a baby girl who has Down Syndrome. The family did not and has a beautiful girl who brings joy to those around her. Her life is valuable. She has impact. We think we can define value and impact and forget the God is in it all and creates miracles out of challenges. God teaches us love, compassion and patience through those who may need more like children with autism. He creates value and impact beyond what the world says. I saw another news story about teenagers who looked like all-American kids who beat a homeless man to death who was fishing and left his family to find him. And yes, his life was valuable. How sad that it is that they didn’t understand that somehow. We don't understand the pull of addiction so we judge. We make assumptions about what someone’s value is or how perhaps they got into a particular situation. They are our neighbors and yet we do not always love them. We judge them. And that judgment tears down relationships. I know I have experienced the hurt of that judgment as single working mother in my children's early years and a mother of a recovering addict.
I am so saddened by what I see these days. I understand the anger. There are a lot of serious things going on in our country. We do have enemies. We are instructed to love our enemies and pray for them. Now, that is hard to do and God’s ways are not our ways. It seems to me the biggest issue we have is a heart issue just as our enemies do. We can’t solve things when we can’t talk. I do feel angry and very frustrated about what life looks like around me. I can become overwhelmed with worry. Surely, some of you understand that feeling. It occurred to me that I will be overwhelmed if I don’t focus on me and what I can do and have faith in what God can do with that. So, what I can do is try to do what God has commanded me to do. In 1 Corinthians, it says “Do everything in love.” It’s a heart thing first and a behavior thing second. I Cor 13 “If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol…if I have faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing…If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love I gain nothing.” Again a heart thing…
So today, I decided to start with me. I went to the pool and sat down with my Bible. I looked at many verses about love. It is clear that we are commanded to love. As usual, God teaches and sometimes with quite a sense of humor. You see it’s easy to look at some of those examples and feel good about ourselves. I haven’t murdered anybody. I don’t send demeaning comments anonymously through social media. I am seen as kind. But there are times, I have a heart issue. I judge and it can be really subtle. It happened today as I was reading through these verses on love, believe it or not.
There was a woman sitting right down from me at the pool . She was about my age. She was different from me in that her language was not that great and seemed negative. She was complaining about different things to the teenage lifeguard using that colorful language. And, I was judging. And then, she began to complain about one of my “adopted” sons across the pool giving swim lessons. “He was too loud. He should be in the water rather than instructing from the side, etc.” Beyond just judging, the momma bear instinct rose up. I was about to say something to her and make sure she knew this was one of my village children who knew exactly what he was doing. He was college swimmer. I wanted to put her in her place. As quick I started scheming, it occurred to me that this is exactly what God means when he says love your neighbor. He was the judge not me. My “adopted” son was not hurt as he did not even know it was happening. I should leave it to God. And so I did. Just that act opened my ears to other things. It sounded like her kids are older and gone. She comes to the pool to fill her time. Just maybe she is lonely. Then, I could look at her differently. Someone posted today a picture that said, “Be Kind. For everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.” I don’t know what motivates this woman’s negativity. In the end, this young man came over to say hello. It would have been obvious to her from our conversation that he was a surrogate family member to me and that he was a special young man. Maybe God will use that and she will think about how she criticizes in public or then again maybe not. Either way that is God’s work not mine. But, he showed me how easy it is to have a heart problem. We all do at times.
So, this is not an easy set of commands but it is the core of what God calls us to do. He blesses that love. Yes, this is a very tough time in this world. However, if you look around, you can see how healing occurs when love is shown. The long lines to give blood in Orlando. The follow-up posts by mothers sending love to the family who lost their two year old. The people who go out on Saturdays and serve the homeless. For those of us who are Christians, our command is clear. We are to love each other as Christ loved us. We were his enemy and he loves us. It is our gift. We are promised that love binds us together. The body grows when built in love. We do not have to be overcome by evil, but we can overcome evil with love. It is love that will lead to unity and a bond of peace.
So, I am convicted. It is peace I want and I want to reflect God’s love. Only I can know though what is in my heart. I am challenged to think differently than the world. I am challenged to remember God first loved me. He forgave me through his death. I did not deserve the mercy that I was given but I can reflect his mercy, grace and love. And God can and will use that in a much bigger way that I could imagine. And He can use you too. We can impact this world through His Love. Want to join me?
