Love Them Anywayনমুনা

Crossing the Line in the Sand

It’s my guess that most of us have drawn a line in the sand, and on the other side are people we’ve written off as utterly hopeless. We barely put up with people who are habitually grouchy or whose habits are somewhat repulsive, but these others are beyond our limits. To move the line so we can love more people, we need a rare and precious commodity: humility. In one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible, Paul describes the humility of Christ in his letter to the Philippians. Before this passage, though, he says that we can have a similar attitude if our hearts are filled with God’s grace. Paul begins with a series of “if” statements, and the only appropriate answer is “Certainly!” 

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion... —Philippians 2:1

Paul is reminding us of the phenomenal gift of grace poured out on us in Jesus. This grace isn’t just a theological truth; it connects us with His heart so that contempt for others melts away and is replaced with kindness. Notice that the “if” clauses conclude with a “then” statement as Paul describes what happens in us and through us when we experience grace:

 ...then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. —Philippians 2:2–5

We get a picture of how wide Jesus’ love was on the morning of the resurrection. The first person who saw Christ was Mary Magdalene. When she saw Him, she didn’t expect to see a risen Savior. She thought He was the gardener who had taken the body away. Jesus gently called her name, “Mary,” and she knew it was Him. (John 20:11– 16.) At that moment, the message of the gospel was in the hands of a woman who, Luke tells us, had been possessed by seven demons (Luke 8:2). She was the most unlikely evangelist: she was a woman in a man’s world, a person who had been possessed by demons, and uneducated. But Jesus looked beyond these factors and revealed Himself to her. You and I were just as unlikely, and He has revealed Himself to us. Jesus obliterated the line and the limitations on His love. No one was outside His grace, and everyone was welcome to experience the wealth of His kindness. As we grasp His love more fully, our line will move out.