Hear the bells ringing?
I drove to New Mexico this morning to continue prep for the rig, then back tonight. When I drive, I often meditate about things, or people, or scripture , or other subjects. Today (since it's 12:35, I guess it was yesterday) over my 640+ miles, I kept coming back to John's letter.
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
This is the message we have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. ****And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers****!!!!!!
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, HOW CAN THE LOVE OF GOD BE IN HIM?
I don't know that I heve ever, really, truly, grasped that concept before. Superficially, maybe. In my search for what body life should look like, love is the key, the essence.
The love I have for my children, my own daughters, is the love I should have for my brothers and sisters. My own flesh and blood. Lay-down-my-life kind of love. Sacrificial, giving love.
What would I be willing to do for someone I love that way?
What would I not be willing to do?
How would I feel toward that someone?
There are a few dozen people (you know who you are) I do feel that way about, although my treatment of them is tempered by my own selfishness and weakness. It has taken time, and usually effort, to arrive there. Those people will be required to hug me if they let me get close enough. They "ring my bell" when I see them, which is my way of describing the tingling feeling you get when you first see that special loved one after a time away. Spiritually speaking, that's just got to be a healthy thing. They've gotten under my skin, which, I guess, is an interesting way of saying we share the same body.
But what if I had that feeling about every church member? What if my brothers and sisters in Dallas and Afghanistan and India and Mexico City all "rang my bell"? How do I go there? Isn't that the kind of love I'm called to? Isn't that EXACTLY what Christ wants?
I have so much to learn...
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
This is the message we have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. ****And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers****!!!!!!
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, HOW CAN THE LOVE OF GOD BE IN HIM?
I don't know that I heve ever, really, truly, grasped that concept before. Superficially, maybe. In my search for what body life should look like, love is the key, the essence.
The love I have for my children, my own daughters, is the love I should have for my brothers and sisters. My own flesh and blood. Lay-down-my-life kind of love. Sacrificial, giving love.
What would I be willing to do for someone I love that way?
What would I not be willing to do?
How would I feel toward that someone?
There are a few dozen people (you know who you are) I do feel that way about, although my treatment of them is tempered by my own selfishness and weakness. It has taken time, and usually effort, to arrive there. Those people will be required to hug me if they let me get close enough. They "ring my bell" when I see them, which is my way of describing the tingling feeling you get when you first see that special loved one after a time away. Spiritually speaking, that's just got to be a healthy thing. They've gotten under my skin, which, I guess, is an interesting way of saying we share the same body.
But what if I had that feeling about every church member? What if my brothers and sisters in Dallas and Afghanistan and India and Mexico City all "rang my bell"? How do I go there? Isn't that the kind of love I'm called to? Isn't that EXACTLY what Christ wants?
I have so much to learn...
posted by G'ampa C @ 10:35 PM
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