The Law of Love

This past semester I was enrolled in a class that has been the most challenging for me. It was not so much academically challenging as spiritually challenging. My professor began the class by saying he will not challenge our beliefs, he will only challenge why we believe what we do. Our first discussion revolved around Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and specifically around loving our enemies as ourselves. the example he gave was this: Suppose an Islamic Jihadist walked into this classroom, or into your church or home, and was hungry. Would you feed them; fully knowing that this person has every intention of taking your life? Would you show the love of Christ to them? My initial response was a resounding yes! But as I was thinking more, I became more unsure of my answer. I don't know if I would be able to do that; I hope I would be willing to meet their needs. This class started a process of thinking about how I love those around me, and show Jesus to them.

What stood out me: Verses 13-14 say, "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law if fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Why did this stand out to me: These verses stood out to me because I have been doing a lot of thinking about loving those around me. I am wanting to show love to everyone who is close to me, and to those who are not close to me. I also firmly believe the church can do a better job at loving others too. There have been times in the past few weeks where I have been given opportunities to love others, and I have failed to do so, and it hurts!

How does this apply in my own life: It seems like every summer, we are given multiple opportunities to show Christ's love to some pretty rough kids. There are a few campers every summer who test patience levels and who push against every boundary. The simple response with these campers is to send them home when they are being difficult. But, is that the response Jesus would give? This is a hard line for me to delineate between. At what point does showing Christ include keeping these children at camp? Is sending these kids home from camp not showing love? Is keeping those kids at camp not showing love? What image of Jesus does that send to those kids? Am I portraying Jesus, or my frustration?

Tomorrow we will be reading Galatians 5:16-26. See you tomorrow!

In His service, CrazyPete