This last month has been… a lot… and in that the vocal minority can be so very very loud (believe it or not I’m not actually talking about politics!). It’s easy to listen to them, it’s easy to be distracted and discouraged by them, because they are so very very loud. Both in and outside of the church.
So what can we do about this? If you believe in the Bible, that it is the living word of God, then there is a very specific call in our lives about what we need to be doing. Sadly, as much as we want it to be, it’s not to engage in verbal altercations with these people, it’s not to slap them as much as we want to sometimes. The call is to love, and love loud.
Psychologically on average it takes 10 compliments to undo the damage of 1 insult. That is a lot of love that needs to be dished out, and Jesus knew this! I’m currently reading through the book of John, and the word “love” is used 57 times throughout the book, while “hate” is only used 7. Now a lot of the use of the word “love” is about the love God has for us, but that is still only about half, so “love” far outweighs “hate”. In fact, there are multiple commandments specifically about love.
In Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus lists the greatest commandments, to love God with everything you have got, and to love your neighbor as yourself. These seem easy when you just read them, but when you really start to get into the thick of it in life… that second one can get to be really really hard to follow. In this last month there have been many people I have wanted to get in their face and just let them have a piece of my mind. I have wanted to blast them on the internet saying “THIS PERSON RIGHT HERE IS A TOOL BAG AND A TERRIBLE PERSON AND I REALLY DONT LIKE THEM (its taken quite a bit of work to not have “hate” in that statement.)”… But there is that still small voice of the Holy Spirit in the back of my head that says “nope, don’t do that”
This call to love is a tall order. It’s not attainable if we are being honest, at least not by human abilities. In John 15 Jesus talks about how He is the vine, and we are the branches. To be able to bear fruit WE MUST ABIDE IN THE VINE! We must abide in God, and we must abide in His love. These statements flow directly into the next section where Jesus dives into loving one another. Constant consistent love for others is impossible without abiding in Jesus. There is a reason the first fruit of the spirit that is mentioned is Love. We are called to bear the fruit of love, and it needs to be big and loud.
1 Corinthians 13 is generally called the “love chapter” diving into love and what it looks like, and why it is important. Many of us are familiar with it and what love should look like… but what about what it is not supposed to look like, what about what love is not? What happens when we asses our relationship by what love is not? According to 1 Corinthians 13 love is not envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude. It doesn’t insist on its own way, irritable or resentful. It doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing. When we look at these and realize that this is the relationship that we are called to have WITH EVERYONE it gets rough.
It’s at this point that my brain starts saying “yeah… but did he really mean ‘everyone’? God could not possibly expect us to love everyone… does He really know what these people did to me?!?!?! What they did to my family?!?!?! What they did to my friends?!?!?!? Does God really know the hurt, pain, tears, and strife that these people have caused?!?!?! BECAUSE IF HE DID HE WOULD NOT EXPECT ME TO TRULY LOVE THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE *insert deep insult here*!!!” (… dang that got a little more heated than I intended it to…)
And the simple response that God always gives is “Yes, you are called to love”.
Jesus loved… He loved the world to the point that He died for it. To give everyone a fair shot to abide in Him. Even those that rejected Him, insulted Him, spit on Him, and ultimately killed Him. He died for them. He died because of the love He had for ALL.
I dont really know where to go with this… honestly as most of my blog posts are this is a lot of word vomit about what God has been teaching me, and this is where I am at. Struggling to love those that have wrong me and people I care about. And in that struggle realizing my continual need to abide in God and to let His love flow through me, because I can’t love on my own. God called us to be LOUD about love, to the point that He said that is how people will know us. That’s where I want to be, but I am a long way from that…
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