Loving One Another

02/08/2011

Good Morning!

I spent a good portion of yesterday evening watching the movie “South Pacific”. I know there are a number of people who do not like Rogers and Hammerstein productions, but I am not one. I enjoy watching their productions. South Pacific is one of my favorites … dealing with Americans facing their own racism … and overcoming it.

Let’s face it … racism remains a problem for folks in America today. As I have said before, I believe the root of the problem comes from fear. We look at a person from a different culture or a different skin coloring and immediately begin to draw conclusions based on our fears. That’s kind of dumb ... don’t you think?

Jesus does not want us to live by fear but by faith. Think about the conclusions we often draw about our Heavenly Father:

Is God the one who causes bad things to happen to us? Some of you might think so … but I don’t. I do know that God uses the bad things that happen to us to build our faith in Him … but I don’t believe for a moment that He is the source.

Is God ready to strike us down when we do something wrong? Well if that were true, I might never get up! No – God patiently waits on us to realize the error of our ways and turn back to Him. And He even lets some of us go, knowing we will never return to Him. I assure you that it breaks His heart when even one of His creation rejects Him.

I could go on … but as you can see there are some misconceptions about who God is and what He does. Just like the misconceptions we have about other folks … you know, the ones that aren’t quite like us. But here’s the watchword for us: love one another. Many of the people who are different from me have something very in common with me. They have trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That makes them a brother or a sister in Christ. And there is no room for fear amongst brothers and sisters – is there?

Jesus says it simply:

John 13:34 (English Standard Version)
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

What a good verse to remember … right brother / sister?

Agape’

Mr. Jim