Choose Love
One of the great things about being human is our
ability to choose. Even proponents of
predestination agree with this – it’s just that God foreknows our choices.
Choosing is one of many things we have in common
with God. Remember, we are made in God’s
image. That does not mean His physical
image. God does not have a material
body. God has no form: He is Spirit
(John 4:24) and He is Love (1 John 4:8)
Other characteristics that we share with God is our
need for community. (Remember, God is a
three-part entity). We can also – like God -- think and reason and create and
love.
Now a lot of this God nature has become polluted by
our human nature. (Thanks for nothing, Adam.) Fear, pride, selfishness, anger,
etc. get in the way. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
With all the hateful discourse going on in the U.S.,
we have the choice to receive God’s Love and pass it on. The sequence is important. We can’t pass on what we don’t have. Sure, we can muster up human effort to love,
but eventually we start running on fumes if we’re not filling up at the source.
So here’s a mental picture I want to paint that
might help you rise above the craziness of our culture today and choose
love. Imaging you are a prism… You know,
those long triangular-shaped pieces of glass. (Think of the shape of a Tobleron
chocolate bar, but crystal clear.) God is trying to shine His love into and
through you. Imagine this love in the
way the bible often describes it -- as light. Now imagine that this pure light
is trying to get inside you, but someone has put small pieces of duct tape the
circumference of Nestle chocolate morsels all over the prism. (You think I have
a chocolate problem? Keep working with me, people.) Those pieces of tape are
preventing the light from coming in and going out.
Those pieces of tape are anything that is getting in
your way of realizing that God has always loved you, loves you right now, and
will love you in the future no matter how you behave. Rip those pieces of tape
off and receive.
Now let it flow through you. Choose to let it flow through. And then what?
Think and act like Jesus did. Jesus is the perfect example of a physical body
receiving and passing on God’s love.
Study Jesus and do what you see him doing. Don’t
study or read about the church or about Christians. In fact, take a break from
trying to figure out God. Just choose to read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and
develop the mind and habits of Jesus.
Don’t choose to live with half-formed ideas about
Jesus based on opinions, hearsay, childhood memories, or the lunatic fringe of
Christianity the press loves to highlight.
How do you choose today?