Eastertide
April 26, 2018
Scripture Reading: 1 John 4:7-21
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. –1 John 4:7-12
One of the great apes at our zoo had a baby recently. The local news showed sweet pictures of the mother ape kisses and nuzzling her baby. I think that is a form of love. Perhaps all of God’s creature received the ability to love at their creation. John tells us in our scripture today that all love comes from God and starts with the fact that God loves each of us. Sharing the knowledge of that truth is part of our purpose as followers of Christ. But life happens, and love can get distorted even from very early ages. Thus, another part of our purpose is striving for wholeness for ourselves and journeying with others striving for wholeness in loving themselves and others.
Jesus commanded: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:31) I fear many of our problems result from our doing exactly that when we do not love ourselves we love our neighbors incompletely too. We must implement this commandment in its totality. Loving oneself relates to wholeness, not selfishness or being self-centered. It is perhaps a paradox, but we are only fully capable of loving another when we are comfortable enough in our own skin to risk loving another. God takes that risk with each and every one of us.
So how do we learn to love ourselves as God loves us? A good place to start is seeking God’s forgiveness for those areas for which we cannot forgive ourselves. With the assurance that God does forgive, God also will enable us to forgive ourselves when we are not perfect. We must learn from mistakes for sure, but then move on. The next step is to forgive others. When we have been hurt or even harmed by someone we often incorporate the pain as part of our self-awareness. There has never been a perfect parent, spouse, friend, co-worker. Let go of the negatives that reshape us and give them to God. God will remold us and remake us as God created us if we let God.
Prayer: Lord, enable me to forgive and to learn from mistakes rather than regress. Amen.