John 13:34-35
“Let me give you a new command:
Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another.
This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they
see the love you have for each other.”
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
I met a friend in the grocery
store today whose husband has just come home from an extended hospital
stay. She said that yesterday, he took his first “real” shower in
roughly 38 days. She said he told her that “spit baths” were just not
the same – that “we Baptists need more water!” I had to agree. Several
years ago, I broke my ankle. While I was in a cast, I could not
shower. I told my friend that I still remember the first day I was free
of my plaster cast. Greg put a step-stool in the shower, and I sat on
it while he turned on the water and let it pour over me. A shower never
felt so good before or since!
My friend and I agreed that far
too often, we take something as basic as a shower for granted. Yes, you
can take a “bath” with a washcloth and a basin of water…but there is
nothing like the cleansing power of a shower to make you feel truly
clean. As we talked, we laughed that this was a great analogy for another, more profound “cleansing power”…the blood of Jesus and His love for us.
A
lot of the time, Christians tend to operate in “spit bath” mode. We
pick and choose who to love – and how to love them. I recently read a
response that Amy Dickinson, whose syndicated column is called “Ask
Amy,” gave to a “church-going” woman who wanted to know how to nicely
exclude a family member from her social , because this person didn’t
quite fit in. Amy let the woman have it with both barrels for her
unkindness and her unloving attitude. She finished with the admonition
that maybe this woman should think about these things while sitting in
her church pew, because for all of her time spent in church, she didn’t
seem to have learned a whole lot!
Many of us have not gotten much out of our “church attendance,”, either! We certainly have not learned how to love ALL
others as Jesus loves us…and to demonstrate this in our daily living.
We haven’t learned how to think of someone besides ourselves first…to
hold our tongue…to readily forgive wrongs and move forward…to encourage
others and build them up in hope and faith. We haven’t accepted that
God created ALL of us…not just white people…or Methodists, Baptist and
Catholics…or heterosexuals...or Americans! We fail to believe that God
could love drug addicts, alcoholics, sexual predators and other
criminals, terrorists, people on welfare, the elderly, and those who do
not agree with our politics…much less expect US to love them! And it
shows in our demeanor - and our daily “discipleship.”
We’ve taken
“Christian spit baths” long enough. It’s time for us to sit under the
“shower” of the love of Christ and let His blood truly cleanse us from
head to toe. We need to “wash” in His sacrifice until every speck of
our sin is removed…and then we need to towel off and move ahead with the
full force of His redeeming power. We need to love others as Christ
loves them...and as He loves us!
We need to demonstrate at
every turn that we are new creatures because of Christ Jesus…that there
is nothing halfway about our walk with Him. Others need to see that we
never cut corners…or make exceptions. And if we do…maybe WE need
to spend a little time on a pew…or in a quiet corner where we can listen
for the voice of God. Maybe we need to ask the Holy Spirit to wash
over us like the refreshing waters of a hot shower…and give us new eyes
for Christ’s mission.
How “clean” are you today? What – and
WHO – do other see in your words and actions? Is your love for Jesus –
and others – readily recognizable? Don’t you think it’s time it was?
©2016 Debbie Robus
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