“Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” -Romans 13:10
How do we stop the hatred and the violence in our world?
It begins with you and me.
It starts here in our prayer life, in our hearts, in our actions towards others.
Far too often the reasons that we hate are because we are selfish creatures. We think that world revolves around us, and so our response to the world is all about ME, myself and I.
When Jesus came to this earth He not only declared that the Kingdom of heaven was here, but it didn’t start with the self-inflated, me first emphasis – it begins with two principles:
1) Love the Lord your God, and then 2) Love others.
This is the missing link…
This is the lost-ness of the fallen world.
When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they disobeyed, they operated on a selfish principle that broke God’s heart. Since that first act of selfish disobedience, our world has remained in a revolving door of selfishness.
So…what is love?
It requires us to take that step towards our neighbor…
who is our neighbor? Jesus said, through the parable of the Good Samaritan, that our neighbor is not only those who look like us, act like us, and talk like us, but even people who are the exact opposite or those we do not see eye to eye. Loving our neighbors takes us far beyond that which we are comfortable with. It requires our selflessness to embrace this missing link of love.
Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Basically while we were still ignorant and blind in our sins Jesus died for us. When we didn’t deserve love, God gave love. Even when we were spiteful, merciless, and cruel, God loved us. This is the missing link in our world today! The lack of love for those we would consider our enemies…those we would consider to be those we avoid. Thank goodness God didn’t avoid us and our ignorance in sin.
If we are to become the very image of Christ in the world today, we have to take up our crosses and follow Him in displaying love for EVERYONE including those who do not look like us, act like us, or talk like us. This love is inclusive and offered to all who seek Him. This is the missing link in our world.
This is our missing hope for peace.
This is our only hope for redemption – Love, Divine Love.
Questions to Ponder today:
Are there prejudices in my life right now that divide those I love from those I hate?
How can I tear down those walls and embrace this missing link of Divine love in my life today?
How can I learn to forgive as Christ forgave me?
What are some ways that I can go and talk to my neighbor with love, respect and grace?
Prayer: Lord, help me to see others the way you see them. I want to embrace this divine love in my life today! Show me who my neighbors are. Help me to reflect your grace and love. Tear down these walls of division and prejudice in my heart today. Show your Kingdom in those I meet and help me to be your kingdom builder in all that I do and say in this day. In Your name I pray all of these things. -Amen.
The priority here is not witnessing. That might sound shocking to some of you. But the very first priority is being holy people. When we live up to being truly set apart for God, then the outpouring of our hearts will be our testimony and our praise to Him. Sometimes we are so action oriented and about getting things done and checking another item off of our “to do” list that we forget to simply be in the presence of God. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” This isn’t some egotistical announcement from God, instead it is a reminder of the very first priority of our life – Keep God first above all other things! Set apart in your heart a place for Him – in ALL THINGS! When we place this at the forefront of all that we do, we will find that everything is now viewed through the lens of God – and this will make all of the difference. Forget about what you will say to others about Jesus…that might sound funny. But stop worrying about what comes next in your witness to others, and BE in the presence of God – from this will flow your adoration and love so that others will see and believe.
can cling to. He is always there to provide safety and security! His strength and light shines and frightens all of the darkness away! He is our Savior and the One who calms the storms of this life! I would venture like any parent, our Heavenly Father becomes afraid for us at times. He longs to rush in and rescue us. Perhaps it is just me, but I think of my Heavenly Father like that – fulfilling that role. His strength is sufficient for any task and any danger. That doesn’t mean that we go looking for trouble, but when trouble finds us, and it will, we can cling to the Rock of our Salvation! Run to Him! Tell Him of your fears. Allow His mighty hands to enfold you and protect you. Find comfort and encouragement in Him today ! He is Your Rock and Your Salvation…do not be afraid!! So let me ask you…what are you afraid of???
We see this all the time though don’t we? There is a lot of hate in our world today. Wouldn’t it be amazing to worship and adore God so much that we naturally love our neighbors around us? What an amazing world we would live in if we respected and loved one another because our first love was God. Even the people of Jesus’ day questioned who their neighbors were. In Luke, right after Jesus repeats the Shema Yisrael and speaks of loving our neighbor, one of the teachers asks “who is my neighbor?” You can almost hear the wheels churning in this man’s mind. Can we pick and choose who our neighbor is? Does my neighbor look like me, have the same interest as me, perhaps have the same skin color as me? Is “my neighbor” those I choose to associate myself with? The answer is NO! Jesus takes it a step further and tells them the parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate our neighbor is more than people who look like us, talk like us, and have the same interests or cultural practices.
Loving God with all of our being broadens the world around us.
The Salvation Army needs more leaders to be men and women of integrity. I say this for all areas of leadership. From the local officer position all the way up to the General. We need people who will do what they say they will do while being men and women of Holiness. Without the characteristic of holiness, a leader’s integrity cannot be completely fulfilled. Thus, leadership must begin on our knees before our heavenly Father. Because we will be held to account for what we do on earth. Leaders who operate with ulterior motivations and do not have holy integrity, will falter and perhaps inflict casualties within our body of soldiers. We are very good at pointing out the bad in others, but this godly principle of living must begin with us! Without holiness and integrity our sphere of responsibility and leadership will crumble and find a limited impact for the Kingdom.
or place of leadership and conduct themselves contrary to that place of authority? What we say and what we do should line up, and with it our REAL responses to the world around us. There is no time to be a phony leader or a phony Christian. We cannot have leaders of any level merely giving lip service to God, but their motives and conduct are completely contrary to their bravado. This Army needs more authentic leaders! We need people who are real, people who know what it means to struggle with life, people who get it. This army is in need of leadership that has empathy not apathy. We need more candid conversations and less brow beatings and starchy high pulpit speak. We have to have a spirit of trust and an understanding that our Army is made up of people who are fallible and require compassion and grace. We need more leaders who will go to the gates of hell for people and soldiers in need instead of delegating or sending others to do their jobs. The leader that can be trusted will come to your level and spend time talking with you about the things that matter. Can you be a trusted leader? Do you have a heart to serve? Are you moved with compassion for those you lead? Then be authentic, and leader with authenticity, this Kingdom of God doesn’t have a place for two-faced leadership.
Leaders who pass the buck are not leaders of accountability.
the power that is entrusted to you. Know that final authority is not you – but rather God. Even if you do not have someone who is currently over you in authority, your actions and motivations will be judged in accordance to Godly principles when we stand before Him. I do not say this to sound threatening or vindictive, I say this because I believe there are those in numerous places of authority who are power hungry and motivated not by a spirit of service but to be served. This is a very real danger in all levels of leadership. If we are to be leader who can be trusted, we must possess a level of accountability towards those we serve in leadership both above and below us (for lack of a better term). Is it still Thy Kingdom come, or has it come “My Kingdom come”?
Pastor's Ponderings 