" You have heard the law that says, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. (the old law) But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! (Jesus' revision, if you will, making the old law new) In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For He gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even the pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect".
If you are at work, look around at your coworkers. If you are in school do the same. If you are on a bus, train or plane, look around. For the most part you are probably comfortable with those around you. They look pretty much like you look, they dress the same, perhaps live in similar neighborhoods and drive similar vehicles. They have similar hopes, dreams, and ambitions. If I asked you if you thought you could find it in your heart to love those around you as Jesus taught, I imagine you would say sure.
Now think of a neighborhood in which you would never walk the street alone at night. Think of people from other countries or a group of people with mental difficulty or physical imperfections. (If you watch commercials, even wrinkles and age spots are horrible deformities requiring every effort you can make at any expense to cover up. The world teaches us that anything short of marketed perfection is unacceptable. I find that unacceptable.) How about unfortunate people who live on our streets, who you might say just don't try and are lazy. How about people with addictions that we might say deserve what they got, after all they did it to themselves. What about those in prison who we might think belong there, unlike us who obey the law.
Don't you agree it is foolish to determine what another person might or might not deserve without walking in their shoes? How about if we add this, how is making a mistake, doing something stupid, being born with bodies that did not develop 100% in the way they could have so bad, so wrong, so unlovable?
These people I mentioned are not even our enemies, they are just different from many people in some way. With that in mind, how about loving the guy next door whose dog never shuts up? How about the other neighbor who never cuts his grass or trims his bushes? How about that biker jerk who tunes his bike with straight pipes every Saturday that is louder than the thunder at the time of Jesus second coming? Again, these are not enemies, just annoyances.
Add these to those who really may be enemies, now can we say we think we could love them? Hard, yes. Not something we might want to do? Sure. Jesus does direct us to not be like some others. He tells us to do more, to live to a different set of principles.
Hey, I am not by any means saying this stuff is easy. I am saying it can be done. I am saying we feel much better and the world becomes an even more beautiful place when we can get past our prejudices and things we may not agree with and just love people. As I have said before, the more you love people, the more you will love people.
As God has dealt with me person after person, I have done my best to listen. He has helped me to overcome areas of previous discomfort and awkwardness. Many of us know how it may feel awkward and difficult to see a person confined to a wheel chair. We might not know what to say. How about "hi, isn't it a pretty day?" I remember when a TV show was talking with people who had severe physical limitations. The host asked questions about how do you want people to respond to you? In a sense asking for what the proper etiquette was. Person after person said to treat them like anyone else. They said the most hurtful thing anyone could do to them was to ignore them or look away. They are people who have had some hard times but they are people who deserve, want, and need love just like everyone else. We need to get past our feelings and reach out and love.
The world's way of loving is too often only loving those who are nice to you, those who look like you, those who think, talk, and act like you. That kind of love led to racism, hate, genocide and other awful things.
Let's all make a pact. We will not expect each other to love anyone that Jesus would not love. How about that? Say hi, open a door, greet with a smile, be kind, give someone your place in line and whatever else you can do to share little bits of love all over the neighborhood. Start small with the easy ones and work your way into the harder ones. As you grow, Jesus gives you more ability to get past the things you find unlovable. If you don't try or start, you will never get any closer to loving as He teaches.
This is nagging at me and I just have to share. I had lunch with my mom yesterday. She works at her church and part of what she does is visit nursing homes and hospice facilities and hospitals. You can see the passion in her eyes as she talks about it. Such places are uncomfortable for many of us.
We talked about how sad she was at times because there are so many people who are basically abandoned there. Some have no family or friends at all and live everyday alone and sad. It might be like being in solitary confinement even though you are in the midst of many other people. She talked of many who have family but are never visited. People are just "too" busy to make time for family members who are in places like these. It is just such an inconvenience. She talked about people in these places who have families, but because of an argument or fight there are huge walls and barriers that keep them isolated. Do you find this sad?
Hey, I understand some of the difficulty of visiting these places. I have had my share of seeing friends and family in hospitals, some even never leaving. I had a grandmother in a nursing home who passed away there with Alzheimer's. I get it. I also understand that many of us hope to never finish our lives in one of those places. We feel that way because who would want to finish life there, alone and forgotten. We have a fear of living how they are already living. Can I ask, if we are fearful of living how they are living, can we not understand how they must feel? How can we let a busy schedule keep us from loving someone we know who is lonely? How can we not suck it up and forgive or apologize for a wrong done or get over a fight from long ago? Can we not see our way past such things to love as Jesus loves? We might have to grow and work beyond where we are now to do it, but is it that bad?
People like my mom can only get to so many people so often and so much more can be done. Maybe we can work on growing our love for others by talking to a pastor or the director of a nursing home or staff at a hospice center to see if there is something we can do. Maybe we can spend some time with a stranger who is alone and would just love to have someone to talk to.
I am not pointing my finger or criticising. I am saying that Jesus calls us to love people and He offers no selection criteria. He simply says to love one another. I am also saying that there are so many people out there who don't get any love. Doesn't it make sense to give away some of what we have to some who don't have any?
Just love somebody. Everybody. May God bless you all.