1 John 4:20
If anyone says, "I love God," but keeps
on hating his brother, he is a liar; for if he doesn't love his brother
who is right there in front of him, how can he love God whom he has
never seen?
The Living
Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission
of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All
rights reserved.
Last week as we drove to the gas
station, Timothy was seated in the back of the vehicle, and he began to
make loud, silly noises. I asked him to stop. He persisted. Suddenly
from the middle row seating, I heard Zola say, “Timothy! Do you want
her to turn this car around and take you home?” Timothy did not
answer. Then I heard almost-three-year-old Nathan chime in…”Well…DO
you?” The noises stopped…and I could barely contain my laughter to
drive. In that little snippet of conversation, I realized how our
children truly see us. It’s true…if you listen, your children will tell
you how you really sound!
Our children learn at an early age to
mirror our thoughts and feelings. So a lot of us grow up with prejudice
– and even hatred – that is really not our own, but rather that of our
parents, other adults, society, and our peers. We learn to dislike
people of another race…but our justifications make no sense. We lump
people into collective groups…as in “THEY are all this way or that”…or
“I do not like the XYZs or the PDQs”. When truly questioned about our
reasoning…we have no explanation that is rooted in personal experience –
or one that makes much sense.
I ask you…what injustice or
“wrong” has been personally done to you by someone of another race or
ethnicity? Why do you have such a disdain for people whose sexual
orientation is different from yours? What’s it to you if a person
practices another religion – or no religion at all? Did another
person’s poverty or lack of education or opportunity cause you to
literally miss a meal or a chance to be and do whatever you wanted with
your own life? How are you personally and directly affected by another
person’s race, religion, ethnicity, socioeconomic level, political
preference, or sexual orientation?
If we are honest, we often
don’t really know the people we disparage. We start out parroting what
we have heard from others…and soon we have internalized it. The next
thing you know, we are posting social media references to “God and
Country” one minute…and spewing hate and venom toward a particular
person or group in the next…and we see no problem with this!
I
have to tell you, I am struggling these days to find my “church,”
because a lot of people with whom I’ve worshipped and associated with
for decades are schizophrenic. They SAY they love God and want to serve
Him…they never hesitate to ask for prayer – or to offer to pray for
someone else. They “serve” in ministries and give of their “time,
talents and money.” And then they bash everyone from people on welfare
and those in the LBGTQ community to our president and his cabinet…and
anyone they deem to have a different opinion from theirs – in any
arena. Worse yet, they excuse this behavior by falsely assuming that
everyone else agrees with them…especially God.
I’m giving some of
us an “out” by blaming our upbringing and environment. But it’s time
we all grew up! The time has come to give our thoughts and ideas a
thorough examination in light of God’s word…to see where we have made
decisions and comments that offend not only a person or a group, but God
Almighty…to ask God to show us how to operate in the love of Christ and
kick the devil’s hatred to the curb. We are not a four-year-old
echoing her parents’ admonition to an older brother. And we are most
certainly not echoing the voice of our Heavenly Father. But we need to
be…and the shift in attitude can begin today.
Will you spend
some time with God and ask Him to correct your thinking? Will this be
the day that you begin to live, speak and act in a way that says, “I
KNOW the Father Whom I have not seen…and I love because He first loved
me?” Don’t you think it should be?
©2015 Debbie Robus
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