I only blog when I feel like what I have to say is worth others reading; which is probably why I don’t blog much. But today is one of those days when I feel like I have something worth sharing.
Lately I’ve been thinking about what it really means to love others. After all, it made the top two list of commandments: #1 Love the Lord your God and #2 Love your neighbor as yourself. It sounds so easy when you hear someone say we should “love others”, right? But what does that really look like, and how should those of us who call ourselves Christians live that out?
The command to “love your neighbor” is repeated several times throughout scripture. In fact, Jesus said that the entire law is fulfilled when that one commandment is obeyed. (Galatians 5:14) So I’d say it’s pretty important to make sure we are actually LOVING people!
Its seems like “we” (Americans) spend a lot of time deciding whether or not we should help someone who has a need. Maybe the thought has crossed your mind, “What if they use the money for something they shouldn’t?” or maybe you’ve thought, “Well, they got themselves into this mess, they need to figure a way out” or maybe even, “They won’t learn if people constantly bail them out all the time”. Or what about, “I’m low on money myself right now, there’s no way I can help them…I’ll just pray for them.” (all of these are either excuses we can find ourselves using if we aren’t careful). All of which are very self-centered responses.
People have needs….REAL needs. Needs can be financial, physical, spiritual, material…but if all we Christians do when we hear about their need is say “oh, I’m sorry to hear that, I’ll be praying for you.” How does that show a non-believer that we really LOVE them? I understand that we all fall on hard times financially. That we don’t all have money in abundance to just hand out to people, but we ALL have SOMETHING we can do to help others in need. Even if we don’t have the finances ourselves to meet a need, we can always ask other believers around us if they might feel called to come together and even combine resources together to make it work. There is ALWAYS SOMETHING we can do to show people that we really love and care about them, just as we love and care for ourselves.
Here’s a question to ask yourself. If Jesus himself told you that he needed some food and some clothing, would your response to him be, “Sorry Jesus, but I’m low on money this week” ? Or would you give him some of your food and clothes? Or at least hurry up and call some friends until you found someone that could help him out? I’m sure we would all choose the latter option. So why is it any different with our neighbors? We are COMMANDED to love people. It’s not optional if you call yourself a Christ follower. Matthew 25:31-46 is exactly what I’m talking about (it’s a bit long, but take a minute to read it)
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
**For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.**
Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
***“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’***
So MOVE! Do something that matters for the Kingdom! See a need and figure out a way to meet it! It could be as simple as sending someone a card telling them they are on your mind. It could be just going and visiting with someone who is lonely. Maybe you feel led to cook a little extra one night and take some food to someone who wouldn’t be able to eat otherwise. You never know what meeting someone’s need could do for them. By experiencing Christ’s love for them first hand through YOU, they could come to know Him for themselves.
There is someone out there right now, praying for a miracle. Praying, or just simply hoping against all hope that their need will be met. Perhaps YOU are one that God is calling upon to be His hands and feet.
For goodness sake…LOVE.
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