The other day I decided to Google "The Dailies" to see if I am completely unoriginal in my blog title. And I confirmed that I am, in fact, totally unoriginal...BUT, that's okay because I made the best discovery. I happened upon a blog called In The Dailies which is written by an amazing Christian woman named Tanya. I read her blog every day and I just love how honest and interesting she is. What she writes about always makes me think. I also love that she is funny, intelligent, and totally honest about her struggle with her walk with God....which I think is really important. Today, her blog really hit home for me. Number one...she blogged about the show Lost, which I totally love, but am SO behind on that it's gonna take me forever to get caught up. Number two....she blogged about how hard it is to love our enemies, which is something that I struggle with. Smiling at my enemies, waving at my enemies, maybe even forgiving my enemies...but LOVING...come on...that ain't easy. Check out her blog below (spoiler alert....she gives away info about the last episode, so if you don't want to know...don't read this):
http://tanyadennisbooks.com/2010/03/11/wholl-have-me/
It's hard. Where do you draw the line? Where do you say...that's enough, I can't have your negativity or abuse in my life? What does it really mean to love our enemies? Sometimes loving someone means letting them go. That applies to your "enemies" as well. Sometimes loving someone doesn't mean that you have them in your life, but it may mean that you not take revenge on them for a wrong they have done to you. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not boast. Love does not envy. Love does not keep record of wrongs. Love is not rude. Love is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) This excerpt from the Bible is read at weddings all the time. We tend to view this as an instruction manual from God to husbands and wives, but God is asking us to Love everyone the same. The love He is talking about here, is the same love we are supposed to have for our enemies. We need to practice loving each other this way and then maybe we wouldn't have to worry about loving our enemies....because we won't have any. There are always going to be people that won't like you no matter what you do. They may persecute you and go out of their way to ruin your day/life....but they have no power to kill the love inside you. We are only hurt and upset with people if we allow ourselves to feel that way. The sad truth is that this world is full of empty and scared people. All they want is someone to accept them and to feel fulfilled and loved. If they don't find it with God, they will go elsewhere. The devil has plenty of carrots to dangle in the face of the lost and broken. Desperate people do desperate things. Don't you remember times in your life where you messed up royally and hurt someone only because you reacted out of fear? God wants to replace that fear with confidence and joy, but what is going to reach the lost first....God's word, or empty promises?
I don't think that God is telling us to have people in our lives that bring us down or keep us from pursuing Him, but I do think that God is asking us to show compassion to "the lost" just like He did for us. When it comes down to it, we've all done things in our lives that would warrant someone being upset or mad at us...some of us (me) have done worse than that. So, are we willing to show others the compassion that we wish someone would show us when we do things in our lives out of emptiness and fear? Or do we turn away from them and point our "you're bad and I'm not" finger at them and draw the line of separation? We like to do that though, don't we? We are comfortable being able to label people as "bad" or "good" and decide who goes in which category (we almost always place ourselves in the "good" category). But truth is that we will never be good enough even if we are good. We will never be able to be good enough to deserve all of the blessings that God freely gives us. He blesses the just, and the unjust. That is why people that try so hard to be good, get burnt out. God isn't asking us to try and be good. He's asking us to invite His spirit to live in us and guide us.
Food for thought.
Loves,
The Good, the Bad, and the Lovely
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