Give Pause

If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.
1st John 4:20-21 The Message

The world has become bewitched believing everyone has the right to judge and express their opinion, and the more negative the better. It's as though they have totally embraced Adhemar's scathing assessment of Will Thatcher as their own toward everyone and everything. You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting.  (That's the famous quote attributed to the movie A Knight's Tale, but in reality, it comes from Daniel 5:27 and the handwriting on the wall.) 

Nowadays, the common phrase is "It's too people-y out there" when we don't want to deal with others and any issues they may have. The Truth is that to love as Christ loves is messy. Christ's love took Him all the way to Calvary. It was a bloody mess. 

Our Promise for Today should give us pause. What does that mean? It means to cause someone to stop and think carefully about something. So, let's think about it for a moment...  If [we] won’t love the person [we] can see, how can [we] love the God [we] can’t see? 

The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.

Prayer:

Father, 

          Forgive us for judging and not loving. Forgive us for not forgiving - for wanting to hold everyone accountable for everything they say or do. Open our eyes to see the daily opportunities to love others as You love us and please help us to do exactly that. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen