The Upload
Posted on May 12, 2015 by
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you have had a blessed week!
In our gospel text for this coming Sunday, John 15:9-17, Jesus says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (15:12). Jesus actually commands us to love. It sounds so simple “go love each other,” but to be honest, don’t you find this really hard to do? I mean, sometimes, people make it really hard for me to even think about loving them.
As I watched the violence in Baltimore over the past couple of weeks, I wondered, how could I ever love those people who are rioting and looting? And what about terrorists; how could I ever love terrorists? Surely Jesus couldn’t have meant that we are to love people like that, could he have? ,
The more I think about these questions, the more I realize that Jesus does mean that we are to love all people, even people we do not like. I have come to the conclusion that Jesus had to command us to love one another because sometimes love is not easy. If it were easy, no commands, no orders to do it would have been necessary. Jesus gave us this command because he knew that there would be times when we wanted to be selfish and petty and arrogant, and we would not want to love other people. The command is very clear, because the task is very, very difficult.
So how do we love even those we don’t like? Well, I have come to realize that this is something I have to practice and be intentional about. You know, about a year-and-a-half ago, I decided I needed to take better care of myself, I needed to lose some weight and start exercising regularly. It sounded so easy, but when I actually started, I realized it was hard, very hard. I loved to eat things like chips and other snacks, and I didn’t want to give them up. I didn’t always want to exercise when I got up in the morning, but I kept at it, and eventually my eating habits really changed and my exercise became a habit. Now, 18 months later, I eat healthy without thinking about it and I exercise regularly without it feeling like a burden. This change didn’t come easily, and it didn’t come without practice and a lot of intentionality.
I often have people say to me, “Pastor, how will we ever change this world? It is a mess!” This is a great question, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the world is a mess, but the world is never going to change unless we change first. To bring about real peace, we must begin practicing loving the world as Jesus loved the world. Oh, it won’t be easy, and at times we will want to stop, but we need to be international and persistent. The more we practice it, the more we do it, the easier it will become.
My prayer this week is that each of us try a little harder to love as Jesus loves, and that each of us try a little harder to even love those who don’t love us. If not for yourself, then just do it for the sake of Jesus - after all, he did command us to love.
Have a blessed week!
Shalom,
Pastor Dave