Last year I posted what I knew could turn out to be a controversial post. I wasn’t wrong. During the development of the thread at one stage I began to think that indeed things would turn far uglier than I thought possible however as they were about to, love stepped in.
This happened in the form of several people responding to an angry initial post with love and affirmation. While one person began to judge and angrily attack the others responded in love by not focusing on the offense but instead by loving the offender. The thread generated dozens of comments yet at the end of the day it was love that won and not who was right or wrong. Personally I felt that because love was present I learnt much and many more felt comfortable enough to open up and be real as they expressed what they really thought and not what they thought they should think and feel.
As I reflected about this I asked myself what would the world be like if when we met someone that didn’t align themselves to what we see or believe we still chose to respect them and love them? What would happen if we didn’t think we were superior than them? What if we approached the situation without a self centeredness that thinks we are right and they are wrong? What if being right was actually not the most important thing in our minds and winning the argument was never an issue? What if what people did or thought didn’t automatically alienate in our mind an “us” and “them” mentality?
The reality is that we judge because we don’t understand how things really are and neither do we really understand whom our God is. I am coming to understand that as the reality of how we are loved unfolds within us the more fear is dissipated from our lives. When this happens judging goes out of the window as the need to judge to ease our own fears vanishes. We are no longer driven to be right or a winner as we realise that inside we were never wrong, we were never lacking, and we can never be violated by anything or anyone.
When this happens our eyes are opened so we can begin to see people like God sees them and we all know that daddies (Jesus) first response when he sees someone has always been and will always be love. Our need to fix others disappears and in its place a desire to see them wake up emerges as we are able to see the real them within and see that there is nothing wrong with that part of their being. A deep desire from within us rises up as we suddenly want them to see that too so they can understand how wonderfully made they are and how loved they are. Is wise to consider that often in life what people do isn’t necessarily who they really are. When we love them we create a space where life and love can flow, and when we judge them we bind them further…
Finally, when people are asleep and don’t see the reality of who they really are in Christ, judging and thumping them with the law will only blind and numb them further. Loving them instead as Jesus did, will begin to loosen the blindfolds that keeps them blind and deactivate the sin that is responsible for numbing them to what is truly real about them.
Ask your self this question.
If you you were still blind and asleep which of these last two scenarios would you prefer for yourself if you met someone who claimed to know Christ?
I think I know which one I would pick for myself…so how about we try and pick the same way for others?…
-pablo-
Photo by Unknown
