Unless you live on a deserted island somewhere in the middle of the Arctic ocean you probably know of all the hatred around us, and unless you are wandering the desert somewhere in the remote areas of Africa you probably know of the division that is slowly crippling our society. It’s safe to say when turning on the news it seems like love, compassion, and kindness has gone into hiding, and in it’s place we have chaos, hatred, and bigotry. Instead of being understanding and accepting of ideas that are different than our own we lash out by burning cities, and killing complete strangers.
So what ever happened to a thing called “love”? A great man of faith we see in the bible is Paul and his love for people was truly something to model after. In the book of Romans you really get to see Paul’s love for the people around him.
Romans 9:1-3
“I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”
See Paul was a man who loved everyone despite their backgrounds. Different faiths? No problem. Different homelands? Again, no problem. But how could Paul put his differences aside and love people for who they were. Maybe an even better question would be, why, would Paul put his differences aside and love people for who they were. I believe Paul was a man who knew the value of human life. He knew that no matter what they did to him gave him no excuse not to continue to love them. I mean this is the same guy who was stoned and thrown out of the city to die but got right back up just to go back into that same city that tried to kill him (Acts 14). If that isn’t love I don’t know what is.
So what ever happened to a thing called love? I think once we begin to realize what it means to love our neighbor we will begin to see the change that is needed. See I think for the most part we get this notion that our “neighbor” is only the ones we love or that love us back, but in reality that couldn’t be further than the truth. Paul’s neighbors weren’t just the ones that accepted him they were also the ones that threw the rocks, they were the ones that dragged him out of the city to leave him to die, yet he loved them enough to get back up and go into the city just to continue to minister to the very ones that tried to kill him. “Neighbors” aren’t just the ones that love us, their the ones that hate us, their the ones that agree and disagree with us, they come in all shapes, size and color, and until we figure that out we will continue to fuel the flames of division.
So whether they are carrying “Black Lives Matter” signs or Nazi flags or wearing white hoods hate the sin but love the sinner. Love is always one action away, may we never believe there is nothing we can do.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ro 9:1–3). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
