Scripture: 1 John 4:7-8
Dear friends, troche let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Thought for the Day: The letters of John (and the Gospel of John for that matter) tend to be very strict, promoting a sort of “you’re in or you’re out” ideology. Written to heal a fractured community that was in conflict with both itself and its Jewish brothers and sisters in Jerusalem, the letters have caused more divisions and horrendous acts of intolerance than they have healed any wounds. This is largely because faith can never be about “you’re in or you’re out.” If we’re to learn anything from the teachings and life of Jesus, it’s that everybody is in. And this means in God’s love, in God’s redemption, in God’s forgiveness—whether they call themselves Baptists (or Southern Baptists or United Baptists or Old Baptist Unionists) or Disciples of Christ (or United Church of Christ) or Catholics (Orthodox or reformed? Eastern or Western?) or Muslims (Ahmadiyya, Sufi, Suni or Shi’a?) or Jews (Orthodox? Reformed?). We’re all in. God is good with us.
However, I do agree with John’s “either/or” proposition when he talks about love. Whoever does not know love does not know God. For God is truly love, and once we are filled with the power of God’s love, it is no longer possible for us to even entertain the notion that someone who is not like me is somehow inferior or out of God’s favor. Once we’re filled with God’s love, denominational and religious differences make no difference, because we have realized that no matter how we worship or believe, we believe in the One God of the Universe. When we are filled with love, we truly know God, and we come to realize that these artificial divisions like those espoused by John have no place in our thinking or our actions. When we are filled with God’s love, we cannot help but love everyone we meet. And isn’t that what Jesus was all about?
Prayer: Holy and loving God, may I stop looking for divisions and differences, and start accepting my human family as an incredible revelation of your love and diversity. Amen.