Love Them Anywayনমুনা

Love Cuts Deep

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.—John 15:13, NIV

What are some of the signs that we’ve relegated individuals or segments of society to the status of “them?” The empirical evidence appears when we objectively look at who our friends are, where we shop, where we live, and the way we talk about groups of people. Who is inside our circle? Who is conspicuously absent? If everyone in the circle is the same color as us, we probably have classified other races as “them.”

The emotional evidence may be even clearer. When you see images of certain kinds of people (distinguished by their color, sexual preference, politics, gender, age, or nationality), does a feeling of disgust arise in you? Contempt is a powerful signal that you may consider those people as “them.” Our churches are often segregated. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said that the hour of worship on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in the week. We let the Hispanics reach Hispanics, blacks reach blacks, and whites reach whites. This isn’t at all what the apostle Paul meant when he described the body of Christ, which is characterized by diversity. The gospel isn’t the property of one ethnicity or race or color. Jesus died for us all, and He loves us all the same. 

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.—Galatians 3:28, NIV 

There are billions of people on the planet who aren’t like you. They don’t look like you, they don’t dress like you, they don’t talk like you, they don’t believe like you, and they don’t live like you. Does that make them inferior? Of course not.

They are God’s treasures just as you are. One of the ways we know we’re getting in touch with the heart of God is when our circle of “us” expands and our circle of “them” shrinks.

I’m afraid many of us have misplaced loves. We love our cat or dog, we love our baseball team, we love our favorite designer, but we don’t love the people Jesus loved so much He died for them. Don’t be surprised if you realize that your love is narrow. The disciples’ circle was too small, and the first-century Christians had circles that were too small. (See Paul’s letter to the Galatians.) Throughout history, virtually everyone has been too stingy with his or her love. It’s human nature, but it’s not the nature of God.

Ask yourself how well you are aligning with God’s nature in your view of others. Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to you where your heart needs to be softened and pray for His love, mercy, and grace to abound in you as you strive to live more like Jesus. 

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?

Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.—Matthew 22:36-40, NIV