This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
John 15:12

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loving our enemies falls under loving one another.  Jesus still loved the Roman soldiers as they were nailing his hands and feet to the cross.  He called out to God to forgive them for the act of murdering Him – while he was hanging there in agony.

He loves us even though it is our sin that made Him hang there.

Are we more holy and pure than Jesus that we can’t forgive those who say something that pierces our hearts?

We don’t have to like what someone does to us, but we are still called to love the person doing it – through God.

We love them through Him.

I’ve been reading this Summer… a lot.  The girls have to read at least 30 minutes per day, and I have been reading with them.  I have also been staying up with Eric as he works into the wee hours of the morning, and most often I read then as well.  Needless to say I’ve read quite a few books in the past 2 months.

But something I read tonight in one of these books struck a chord with me, and I thought I’d share it.  It is in response to a question about how a place that the characters are visiting is making them feel – giving them a completeness, a wholeness, a rightness to the world that they have never known.

“There is a love here that is rarely found on earth.  Perhaps in families, certainly between a husband and wife on occasion, but almost never in the world at large.  Love governs everything here.  Everything.  Love and the continually practiced presence of the Most High.

“Yeseph explained it once to me.  He said that the Most High is indeed ever-present with his creation, with us.  But we often lose sight of him – we fall away from him unless we practice his presence.  By that he meant we must keep him with us in our thoughts and deeds, lest we forget.

“For it is not the One who forgets us, but we forget him.  It is how we are made, a defect perhaps, but one that makes belief necessary.  And belief is the Most High’s greatest gift.  So even there he has rescued us.”

“Rescues us from ourselves.  I see.  Is it love that transforms even the common things – the sunrise yonder, for one – into such works of beauty?  Is it love that makes me feel as if all my life until now was a life lived in shadow?”

“Oh, yes!  Love, and the knowledge of the Most High”

“But I know very little of the Most High.  How can it be that I feel as I do?”

“In your heart of hearts you know him.  Durwin used to say that all men were born with the knowledge of the Most High in their hearts.  The trick is to spend more time remembering, and less time forgetting what we already know.”

“From now on I will spend all my time remembering.”

This is an excerpt from “The Sword and the Flame” by Stephen Lawhead.  It’s the third book in the Dragon King Trilogy.

I think that it is quite applicable to our lives as well.

We do often lose sight of God in the busyness of our day-to-day lives.  We do often forget Him as we go along through life.  The trick, it seems, is to spend more time remembering.

How is your memory today?

19 “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.

20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. – Romans 12:19-21

How often have I heard this verse used as a chance to biblically “stick it to your enemy” when that is so not the intent.  Verse 19 just finished stating that Vengence is the Lord’s… not ours.  The idea that you will be heaping hot coals is not actually a curse upon them – it is a further blessing.

We are called to love – to love our neighbors as we do ourselves and to love our enemies and those who seek to harm us.  Love is the most powerful force upon the earth.  It can change anything.

Our of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks, and the body acts.  If we love those around us with God’s love, we will seek to bless them.

Recent events have brought a thought to my mind…

…Namely the murder of a doctor while he was attending church…

…and a simple verse in the Bible.

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

It seems that The Church has gotten a little off of the narrow path as of late (and by late I mean over the past 1500 years or so).  We are supposed to love one another.  We are supposed to love those whom God has created – even if we don’t like the sin that they are committing.

There is another verse that these events brought to mind…

“Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written,
“VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.”  Romans 12:19

… which is at the end of a passage on how we are to serve one another.  I highly recommend reading through Romans 12 if you have the time – if only for the reminder of how we are to treat one another within the body of Christ.

Then, of course, there is that short little verse in Exodus 20:13 (and Deuternonomy 5:17) which has just 4 little words:

Thou Shalt Not Kill.

Um… yeah.

So far I’ve been staying pretty high-level, common knowledge with these references, and yet so much of the Church at large seems to forget that they exist!  Why is God so often used as an excuse to show cruelty?  Just a few examples:

• The Crusades (it was really all about the wealth of the area… Europeans had never seen anything like Byzantium!)
• Hitler’s oppression of the Jews (and let’s face it, he’s not the only one!  Many “Christians” show heavy anti-symatism)
• the Religious Right using their bibles to bash anyone who gets in their way.
• The Pharisees & Sadducees who were the earthly force God used to hang Jesus on the cross… and who then persecuted His followers, forcing them to the ends of the known earth.

I said it was just a few examples… that list could go on and on and on.  We have all experienced it – someone using God or their faith as an excuse to put someone else down.  I daresay we have even done it once or twice ourselves.

But what does Jesus call us to?  Does he tell us to go out and sin against God in His name?  Does He send us out to steal, kill and destroy?  It seems to me that description was reserved for a different kind of roaring lion.

No, He called us to love.  To build relationships with those that we meet on a day to day basis, to share Jesus with them – and occasionally to use words.

Folks, our actions should show them Jesus!  We should be living our lives in such a way that people see HIM when they look at us.  We are called to be salt and light to a lost and dying world – something that is hard to do when our lives are no different than theirs, and is especially hard when we are behaving with less self control or morality.

Here’s a crazy thought…

What if we took the energy that we normally would use to cut down others or vent our frustrations and instead spent it on reaching out in love to a lost and dying world?

What if we focused our attention on taking a meal to the neighbor who lost a loved one or who recently had a child or lost their job?

What if we offered to watch the kids down the street for an afternoon or evening so their mom could have some down time or go out on a date with her husband?

What if we baked a double or triple batch of cookies and took the time to walk around the neighborhood and share the extras with those who live around us?

What if the next time we wanted to say something negative or derogatory about someone we reigned in our tongue and prayed for them instead?

What if instead of watching 3 hours of TV with your kids tonight, you played a game with them?  Or spent 10 minutes each night memorizing a scripture verse as a family?

What if we allowed the love that is God so fill our lives that it overflowed into everything that we did?

Somehow I think that if The Church would focus on Love, we could change the world.

They will know us by our love and be changed, or they will see us through our hate and turn away.

01-we-are-one-in-the-spirit-_-by-our-love

One last reminder… revival starts in the heart – yours and mine.

I think I need to go bake some cookies.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I was blog visiting this morning, and after commenting on David’s blog, I thought I’d share the comments here for you as well.

His question was on love, and what it is to you.  Here is my (slightly added to) reply…

Love… wow.

Friendship has taught me that we need others in our lives. They challenge us, they help us experience the world around us in new and different ways. A true friend is there beside you to help you through the good time and the bad, and something that should be cherished. Friendship has taught me how to bear one another’s burdens. To lift up those around me in prayer, to share the joys and pains, to laugh and to cry for things that aren’t “mine” and truly experience them through another.  It has taught me about brotherly love, and has helped me to realize that God made us for community.  We need each other, just as we need that friend that is closer than a brother.

Marriage taught me how to love deeply – for better or worse, in good times and bad. It begins with a desire for that person to be your everything (at times) and grows into the realization that no one but God can (or should) be your everything. But that other person IS your other half in many ways. They are there beside you, helping you, nurturing you, growing with you. Love will continue to grow and deepen – despite hurts, despite pain, love can and will endure. It will heal. And it will fill you up and bring such joy in the midst of the trials of life. Marriage has taught me about true, deep commitment. And reminds me not to take Eric (or God) for granted. It has taught me about how Jesus loves the church, the Bride of Christ.

Parenthood has taught me more about God’s love than anything else in my life. To have a child is to send your heart out walking around in the world each day. Their simply being alive makes you love them. When they show love in return, it is a huge blessing. When they attempt to withdraw that love it is painful, but you still love them, and hope that by continuing to love them, they will come around again. Witnessing their achievements fills you up inside, seeing their hurts breaks your heart. Parenthood had taught me about how God loves us, and reminds me that even when I choose to ignore Him, He still loves me and is patiently waiting for me to come back home. He is always waiting for us, always loving us.   He will never leave us or forsake us.  NEVER.

This is love, that you would lay down your life for a friend… or an enemy. That is the love of God, that He would sacrifice His only Son so that EVERYONE could be saved. He died not only for those of us who call Him Lord, but for those that despise and curse Him, that they could one day come to love Him.

THAT is amazing love.

What about you?  What does Love mean to you?