“I give you a new command: Love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another”
Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another”
John 13:34
My heart hurt when I
woke up this morning and saw the news about the tragedy in Dallas and how it
was precipitated by other tragedies that had happened in other cities across
the United States earlier in the week. Jesus calls us to love one another
– and that’s not just a specific race to another race – it’s everybody loving
their fellow human enough to respect their feelings, and most especially, their
life.
Upon hearing this
morning’s news, my mind immediately jumped to a conversation I had with one of the inner city children I worked with last Monday. For those who are unaware,
in January I became the childcare coordinator for a Christian ministry in downtown Nashville (in addition to my full-time job) where I am responsible for not only the kids, but the childcare volunteers and program
schedule on the two nights we meet each week. We keep the kids while
their moms are learning and studying to pass their GED test so that they can
get a good job and provide for their families.
Anyway…back to my conversation with this five
year old little girl…
During Bible story
time, she had a very pouty look on her face and so I pulled her out to the hall
to find out what the problem was and how it could be fixed. She wasn’t in
trouble; I simply wanted to find out what had happened. (I ended up
finding out that one of the other workers had asked her to sit away from another
child, so as not to disrupt story time; and she didn’t like that someone was
telling her what to do.) However, instead of explaining to me why she was
pouty, she goes into a 20 minute speech, in which she was basically yelling,
about black people and white people and how white people don’t like black
people and vice versa. Calmly, I explained to her that this was not the
case – especially here at our ministry, but still she continued. I explained the
Bible and how Jesus calls us to love each other, but she brought up stories
that involved beatings and violence. I assured her that no one in our group
felt this way against anyone and that she could trust that we had hers (and the
other children’s) best interests at heart, but she exclaimed that she didn’t
believe me. Ya’ll, she’s five years old. Five.
It appalls me that a
five year old knows and can articulate division and strife among race in her
community. It breaks my heart that she thinks yelling and hate are the
responses to counteracting the division and strife she sees. But honestly,
if that’s all she sees, then that’s all she’s going to know.
Unfortunately, this is the case and not just with her, but with all of the
children that I interact with at this ministry. I pray daily that we childcare workers show these impressionable children how to counteract hate with love.
I pray that they are learning from us how to be civil and handle conflict
calmly and not through violence and harsh words.
Sadly, though, it’s
not just violent news stories where children see negativity. It’s in their homes. It’s in their schools. It’s in their
communities. It’s in politics. It’s even in the church. How
can I teach love, trust, patience, kindness, compassion, and so on when pretty
much every other place these kids live, watch, play, or breathe are filled with
hate or violence or dirty words or distrust or lying or countless other
negative acts and feelings?
When asked by the
Pharisees what was the greatest commandment that all people should follow,
Jesus responded, “You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). Everything that Jesus said in Scripture is
for sure important and noteworthy, but anything that Jesus COMMANDED in
Scripture must be followed…has to be followed...and followed to the letter. He spelled it out plain and simple - love
your neighbor. We know this command is
important because Jesus mentions it, yet again, following His Last Supper, “I give you
a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love
one another” (John 13:34). What better example of showing love to others than Jesus – the ultimate example of love.
Loving your
neighbor isn’t always going to be easy – they may have caused some serious
distrust in your life.
Loving your
neighbor may cause you to have to give up something that’s been a part of you –
a piece of your past that you need to let go.
BUT it’s
important.
It’s necessary.
It’s Christ’s command.
Jesus never promised that this life would be
easy. When we became His followers, we
said we were willing to deny everything
– our legacy, our family, our lifestyle, and the list could go on and on – to take up our
cross and follow Him – Matthew 16:24.
It’s not about religion, it’s not about lifestyles, it’s not about race, it’s not about flags, and it’s
not even about whether or not somebody’s got a tattoo … every.single.human.being.alive.
is the “one another” Jesus was talking about.
If He meant for us to leave a particular group out, He would’ve said it…but
He didn’t. One another means everybody. Loving them like Jesus doesn’t mean you agree
with their thoughts and feelings; it means you are being the light of Christ in
their lives…and that, my friends, is what our ultimate goal as Christians is in
this life – to be His light and help turn the lost to the cross.
I want to end
this heart-felt post with a positive conclusion to the conversation I
referenced earlier between me and the rather vocal five year old. About half an hour after her bizarre protest,
the precious little girl apologized to me.
She told me she had made a bad choice to say those words and that black
people and white people could be friends and get along with one another. She said, “Even though I have different skin
and you have different skin, God made both of us and we are all the same on the
inside.” You’re right, sweet girl, you
are so right. Love - most especially God's love - knows no color. We are all the same on the inside and we can show friendship and civility to each other. Now if we can get the rest
of the world to realize that.
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| Love knows no color. Neither should we. |
