So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. [John 13:34-35 (NLT)]
The best welcome I’ve had at any church was from a man named Luther. Handing us a program, he’d greet us with a broad smile before saying, “Jesus loves you and I do, too!” For several years, Luther greeted everyone who came to that church with his irresistible smile and warm heartfelt words. When age and poor health finally caught up to the nonagenarian, he reluctantly moved away to be closer to family.
I later learned that Luther didn’t save his message of love for fellow church-goers. He spread the news of God’s love everywhere he went. From strangers to neighbors, servers to sales clerks, and nurses to bus boys, everyone he encountered was greeted with those same loving words. Moreover, when Luther said them, he meant exactly what he said and radiated God’s love as he spoke them. His weren’t the words of a dotty old man; they were the words of a disciple of Christ and they spread Jesus’s message of love and joy everywhere he went.
I hadn’t thought about Luther for years until I ran across a friend who also knew Luther. He was wearing a tee-shirt printed with these words: “Jesus loves you and I’m trying!” My friend has a wry sense of humor and, inspired by Luther’s loving words, he had the shirt specially made. His words were brutally honest because loving our neighbor (especially the ones we don’t like) is far easier said than done! Nevertheless, Jesus didn’t tell us to try to love God or our neighbor—He said to do it!
Trying and doing are not the same thing. While there were no qualifications or limitations to Jesus’ or Luther’s words, there were to my friend’s. Trying is a state of mind while doing is action. While trying allows for a multitude of excuses for failure, doing doesn’t. Trying to love is doing so when it’s easy or convenient; actually loving is when it isn’t. It is only when we commit to really doing something that we have any chance of success. We don’t have to love perfectly and we’ll make mistakes; nevertheless, we must love! As Jedi Master Yoda said to Luke Skywalker: “Do. Or do not. There is no try!”
Unlike Luther, most of us probably wouldn’t feel comfortable greeting everyone we encounter with, “Jesus loves you and I do, too!” I don’t think Jesus expects us to do so. Nevertheless, He does expect us to follow Luther’s example by sharing God’s love with all we meet. What do you suppose would happen if we silently said Luther’s words every time we encountered someone? By reminding us of God’s love and the love we are supposed to have for one another, could those simple words change us? Could they move us from trying to love to actually loving? Instead of getting upset or thinking something nasty when a driver cuts us off, a person pushes ahead of us in line, a salesclerk is rude, or we’re on the receiving end of some harsh words, what if we silently said “Jesus loves you and I do, too!”? It would be difficult to remain angry or upset with anyone when thinking about the love of Jesus and His command to love one another. Those few words, even when said only in our minds, could defuse an argument, improve our tone of voice, ease anger and resentment, bring smiles to our faces, and show us how to love!
Remember, Jesus loves you and I do, too!
Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. [C.S. Lewis]
A friend asked if I thought a popular evangelist was a “false teacher.” Like many popular preachers, the man’s message is appealing: love, joy, praise, prosperity and plenty of positive thinking. His words are as pleasant as a mockingbird’s song but, upon closer inspection, he seems to be as dangerous as Paul’s “vicious wolves.” Parts of his message are unsupported by Biblical truth while other essential truths are missing. Jesus certainly didn’t win a popularity contest in the 1st century and I’m a bit suspicious of those preachers who seem more concerned with entertainment, popularity, wealth, and fame than gospel truth.
Yesterday’s devotion got me thinking more about the movie War Room. Elizabeth is a woman whose marriage is crumbling and Miss Clara is a fervent prayer warrior. Clara could easily have done her “Christian duty” for Elizabeth by offering to pray for the young woman’s marriage in her “war room” of prayer. Instead, Clara asks Elizabeth to give her one hour a week and offers to teach her how to fight for her marriage with the right weapons. With her offer, Clara lays herself open to rejection, being called a busybody (or worse) and the inconvenience and challenges that come whenever we become enmeshed in another person’s messy life. In short, Clara does more than pray for this troubled woman—she takes action.
Last week, after posting the second of two devotions mentioning David Bennett, Sr. (who received a pig’s heart in a ground-breaking transplant), I checked news links for an update on his condition. I was surprised to learn that 34 years ago, when Bennett was just 23, he was convicted of stabbing Edward Shumaker seven times, a violent assault that left the 22-year-old paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Bennett was sentenced to 10 years in prison and served 6 of those years before returning to society and moving on with his life. As for Shumaker, after enduring 19 years of staph infections, sepsis, bedsores, a stroke, and moving in and out of nursing homes, he died a week before his 41st birthday.
“They are to be pitied, not….” Not what? Author C.S. Lewis did not complete the sentence and I don’t think the omission was by accident. When I read the above passage, I thought of the words I (as a Christian) should use to replace the ellipsis; they are not to be reviled, hated, judged, condemned, berated, scorned, abused, or despised. Regretfully, my initial reaction upon running across the scum of the earth—the rapists, molesters, traffickers, exploiters, extorters, attackers, murderers, deceivers, hate-spewers, and tyrants that seem to populate our world—is more likely to be the exact opposite. Rather than a feeling of pity, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, or love, it’s one of outrage, loathing, and disgust.
When the religious scholar asked, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan in which he made it clear that one’s neighbors can be strangers—even enemies. Sometimes, however, our neighbor really is the guy next door or the couple sitting in the pew behind us at church.
