Tag Archives: Loving like God

Universal Love

believeLiving in the Spirit
October 17, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:25-35

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’ –Mark 10:25-35

I sometimes have trouble getting a thin thread through the eye of a needle much less a camel. Jesus uses this absurd illustration to describe the challenges faced by all of us who worship wealth to enter the kingdom of God. Now few, if any, of us actually proclaim we worship wealth but our actions speak louder than our words at times. There is hope, however, because God can do the impossible.

How do we order our lives to get our way of being in synch with what we state we believe? I am coming more and more to think that I over use that word believe. I was required to write my creed in a class once. It is a tough assignment wrestling with putting into words the bases of my faith, my trust in God. It could have been very long but as I wrote it got shorter and shorter because I kept folding little bits of belief into all-encompassing ideas. I just kept returning to loving God and loving the way Jesus loved. A laundry list of things I believed about God or Jesus or people or what is sin began to seem somewhat irrelevant. Sometimes our beliefs get in the way of our loving like Jesus. This happens most often with me, because when I form a belief I set the parameter for whom and how I love rather than accepting God’s universal love that has no boundaries.

Prayer: Open my heart to accepting the boundless wonder of your love is meant for everyone.  Forgive me when I insert my own judgment on what is worthy of my love. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Loving Across Cultures

LoveThyNeighborAsThyselfLiving in the Spirit
July 8, 2015

Scripture Reading: Psalm 24

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
   And who shall stand in his holy place?
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
   who do not lift up their souls to what is false,
   and do not swear deceitfully.
They will receive blessing from the Lord,
   and vindication from the God of their salvation.
Such is the company of those who seek him,
   who seek the face of the God of Jacob. –Psalm 24:3-6

I have been struck recently by how much I am more a creator of the culture around me than I am of the Kingdom of God. This reality appears most often in an ingrained sense of entitlement that I take for granted as a white, middle class citizen of the United States. I mistake clean hands for obeying the letter of the law and a pure heart for my dedication to liberal agendas of society. I recycle when it is convenient for me, buy free trade coffee, probably as much because it taste better than it is the right thing to do. But I pay little attention to where my clothing was made or whether a child working 16 hour-days made them.

Self-righteousness comes in many forms and is insidious. We in the US practice it from all sides, liberal and conservation. Somehow we think our worth is established by our measuring one against the other as if God loves one more and one less because of what we believe. I cannot find that in the Bible anywhere. God’s love is unconditional and more importantly universal. The plumb line of righteousness is our love for God and one another.

There is nothing innately wrong with culture. Society is dependent on norms being established to make the flow of life less complicated. What is crucial is understanding the beauty of the many cultures across our earth and being attentive to those things within our culture, which are detrimental to our ability to love one another across cultures as God love us.

Prayer: Lord, make me aware of how my way of being impacts the way of being of others and when those impacts are detrimental to my loving the other, enable me to love like you do. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.