Skip to main content

The Love of Christ

 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.  (Matthew 7:12) 

Today’s post flips the coin from yesterday, turning from our natural responses to our chosen responses. The exercise is to bring to mind each member of your family, and to ask God for an idea of how you can demonstrate Christ’s love to them before the day ends. This can easily be expanded to the people you work with, friends, or neighbors. In fact, my best example of a failure involves how I treated my dog at 3:30 am when she wanted to go out and stay out. The first time she asked to go out, I took her. By the fourth trip out in 15 minutes, I had lost my patience. Yes, two of the trips were necessary and maybe if I’d stayed out with her a little longer for one of those trips, the other three wouldn’t have been necessary, and yes, she doesn’t really understand the notion of “it’s 3:30 am!”

But that’s not the example Jesus sets. He’s available. Three-thirty wouldn’t be a problem for Him. He’s patient. Four trips at 3:30 probably wouldn’t have happened because He’d have stood long enough to have met the need, not saying, “Hurry up” every 2.76 seconds. So, two habits to develop: putting aside stuff and taking time with people.

Another idea presented in the book I’ve been reading is that God is attentive. He pays attention. I can pay attention – exhaustive attention, but it’s not to people. It’s to information, ideas, and tasks. And that brings me to what might be a third good habit to develop – actually looking at people. That’s going to take some work.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more