I have been reading a devotional called "Fearless: A Six-Week Journey"
by Thistlebend Ministries on the YouVersion app. I am on week four of
the devotion, and one of the featured verses is Mark 12: 29-31. Most
Christians are familiar with this verse.
So duh. Love God. Love your neighbor. Easy Peasy, right? This is a Christian no brainer, but I think it's one of those verses we have heard so many times that it loses its meaning. (You, know like when you say word over and over again, it just becomes sounds.) But, what does it mean and how do we know if we are doing it? This has been something I have been struggling with for a while now. I want to love like Christ loves, but how?
It's easy for me to love Philando Castile, Michael Brown, or Tamir Rice the victims. It's easy to feel sympathy when I see grieving parents or hurting communities. But would I have shown love to Michael Brown, the person, if I had met him? I cannot equate my compassion for faceless groups, or for "the face" of that group, to love. Love is personal. It is individual. Am I showing love to the annoying client , the obnoxious person in line at Starbucks, the person who doesn't take care of herself, the person in my life who is emotionally exhausting?
Love is intentional. Love is action. We are to love everyone, especially the unlovable. We can't sit on our couches and read articles and feel sad or angry and then pat ourselves on the back for not behaving like "those people" who are clearly NOT showing God's love. We can't just sit in our sounding chambers and talk about what should and shouldn't be and praise ourselves for being on the right side. We have to be the grassroots movement that shows love, daily, to everyone around us, especially the people who are the hardest to love.
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
So duh. Love God. Love your neighbor. Easy Peasy, right? This is a Christian no brainer, but I think it's one of those verses we have heard so many times that it loses its meaning. (You, know like when you say word over and over again, it just becomes sounds.) But, what does it mean and how do we know if we are doing it? This has been something I have been struggling with for a while now. I want to love like Christ loves, but how?
It's easy for me to love Philando Castile, Michael Brown, or Tamir Rice the victims. It's easy to feel sympathy when I see grieving parents or hurting communities. But would I have shown love to Michael Brown, the person, if I had met him? I cannot equate my compassion for faceless groups, or for "the face" of that group, to love. Love is personal. It is individual. Am I showing love to the annoying client , the obnoxious person in line at Starbucks, the person who doesn't take care of herself, the person in my life who is emotionally exhausting?
Love is intentional. Love is action. We are to love everyone, especially the unlovable. We can't sit on our couches and read articles and feel sad or angry and then pat ourselves on the back for not behaving like "those people" who are clearly NOT showing God's love. We can't just sit in our sounding chambers and talk about what should and shouldn't be and praise ourselves for being on the right side. We have to be the grassroots movement that shows love, daily, to everyone around us, especially the people who are the hardest to love.
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