I didn’t know I needed this song, Common’s God Is Love, as much as I did until halfway through the song I had to put down my fork because my hand was weak and tears were streaming down my face. Even now I have to steady my had to write this.
It’s hard to live here, on this planet. Every bit of news seems to point to how broken, angry, greedy and afraid we are. We’re afraid of each other, of what others believe, of what we believe, or don’t believe, or can’t bring ourselves to believe in anymore. But you know what won’t help? What will kill all our enemies only to circle back and kill those we love and eventually us? Hate. It is a monster you know? Hate doesn’t care on whom it feeds, only that it is fed. I believe it is why Jesus spent so much time teaching us about forgiveness, grace, and mercy while He was here on earth. I think He knows the degree of forgiveness, grace, and mercy others need from us is equivalent to, if not greater than the amount we need from others. The hate that does not get you from the outside will surely destroy you from the inside. So, don’t let it.
“Well, what do we do? Because not hating people and people groups who have openly and aggressively hated me and people who look, act and believe like me for hundreds if not thousands of years seems a tall order. It honestly feels out of my depth, beyond what I am capable of.” It is. Alone I am not capable, not even close. Here is the thing when I choose love even a little bit I am never alone.
1 John 4:7-8, 16-17 New International Version (NIV)
God’s Love and Ours
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.
Since God is love when I choose it, I choose Him. I am choosing to align myself with the singular most mighty power inside or outside of the universe. Choosing love over hate is merely the beginning of all that God and I can do together.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Jesus Girl 