November 7, 2018

Love Like Jesus

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. – 1 John 4:20

As I write this, the election polls are still open. I have no idea who will win any of the many offices up for grabs. But I do know one thing: The hatred and finger pointing has already commenced.

In every race, someone is going to be disappointed and someone is going to be happy. It’s part of the political process. One winner. That’s all.

We’re privileged to have the opportunity to vote. We live in a free country. Many have died to give us this right to express our opinion. I vote. Always. I believe strongly in what my Mother used to say: If you don’t vote, don’t complain. You’re part of the problem.

What I can’t understand, though, is why we can’t seem to talk with one another anymore. We point fingers. We argue. We call each other names. But we don’t talk. It’s like we’ve forgotten how to have a civil conversation.

The great statesmen in Congress seem to have died or retired. Every politician, no matter the political party, appears to be out for number one with little to no regard for what’s best for our nation. They’re so busy trying to get reelected, to get their name in the news, to put more money in their pockets, that they forget Congress was supposed to be about serving the people.

We the people have certainly fueled that. We are blasted daily by shows that argue opinions and call them facts. We are faced daily with inaccurate “news” that we don’t bother to verify before sharing and blasting it everywhere.

And we point fingers. We call people names when they don’t agree with us. We don’t want to share life with those who disagree with our political views. We’re just so arrogant in our opinions that we’ve forgotten how to listen.

Why in the world would you hate someone who disagrees with your political opinion? Do you hate someone who doesn’t look like you? Do you hate someone who is of a different faith? Sadly, for many the answer is yes.

It doesn’t have to be that way. I have friends who disagree vehemently with my beliefs. I feel the same about theirs. We discuss issues. We’ve learned to share information and listen without taking it personally. We’ve learned to value our friendship enough to be civil in our disagreements.

I think what bothers me the most about the hateful comments I hear – from both sides – is that so many of those comments are coming from people who claim to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. How can you hate those created in God’s image? How can you claim to truly know Jesus when your heart is filled with such ugliness?

God is love. That’s what John tells us in 1 John 4:8. So if He lives inside of us, how can we hate? How can we let political disagreements turn into something so ugly.

I don’t know how you voted yesterday or even if you voted. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make either of us better than the other, or wiser, or anything else. We are all God’s children. We are all created in His image.

So act like it. Instead of hatred, show grace. Instead of evil, show mercy. Instead of arrogance, show humility. Instead of ugliness, show kindness. Stop hating people because they disagree with you. Instead, love them like Jesus would do.