As a Christian, I operate under 2 foundational rules:
Love God
Love your neighbor
In other words:
Love a perfect being.
Love a lot of imperfect people.
Quite a contrast. It is also a bit ironic……..that because I love a perfect God, I am required to love a bunch of imperfect humans. But, hey, rules is rules……..and I don’t get to make them up.
BTW…….neither do you.
Loving God is pretty straightforward. Once you accept his existence, it is hard not to love and honor the guy who created you………your family……..and everything else.
Loving your neighbor……now that is a whole different kettle of fish. I don’t know about the people around you; but, the people around me are imperfect……… sometimes spectacularly so. Sometimes they mistreat me, sometimes they attack me. As a Christian and a conservative, it is hard to look through my Facebook timeline without being called, indirectly, a racist, a misogynist, a homophobe, and more. And that is from my friends!
When people treat you well, they are easy to love.
But what about when they treat you badly?
How do you love Antifa? How do you love the anarchists who are burning our cities? How do you love Planned Parenthood? How do you love the author who calls you a racist……because you are white? (Hard to miss the irony there.)
The first step is to concede that you too………are imperfect. We all like to believe that we are fundamentally good. We call up a picture of an angry guy in a hoodie smashing windows and we smuggly say to ourselves, “I’m better than him”. Fact is……you probably are, at least today. But on the cosmic scale of “goodness”…….on God’s scale of “goodness”……..there is really not much difference between the two of you. From God’s perspective…….. you, me, and the guy in the hoodie are all neck deep in the muck.
The second step follows closely. Because I too am imperfect, the guy in the hoodie and I are in about the same boat…….in the eyes of God. And isn’t that the perspective that really counts…… considering the eternal implications?
Finally, consider that God loves you…….and me…….and the guy in the hoodie. He loves us even though we are imperfect. He loves us even though we do things that offend him……things that hurt him……every single day.
It would be a massive act of hypocrisy for me to mistreat God and then accept his love while at the same time withholding my love from somebody who has mistreated me.
So, I have to find a way to love the guy who spit in my face. I have to find a way to love Planned Parenthood, I have to find a way to love the guy from Antifa……because God loves me…….in spite of my imperfections.
And that………..is not going to be easy.
I’m a woodworker. My project today is a very complicated table. It is at the very limits of my skill set…….and I have been stalling……..because I’m afraid I’ll mess up. But, it’s been paid for and I have a deadline. So I will start by sawing the boards that I will need to the exact size required. I can do that……. today.
As far as loving the guy in the hoodie is concerned, I can start by realizing that he and I have some things……..possibly some imperfections……in common. He and I are brothers……..I can do that……….today. Tomorrow, maybe I can try to understand him……….even if we disagree.
Lord, please give peace………….to the guy in the hoodie.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Jesus, NIV
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.”
Jesus, NIV
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Jesus, NIV