Monday, November 16, 2009

Summed up in this one rule....

The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Romans 13:8-10


"Summed up in this one rule..." It sounds so simple, but if it were the history of the world, and most of our individual lives, would be much different.

Today I went to visit my cousin who is locked up. As to be expected, he is ready to get out, but this particular visit he shared something that really struck a cord. He said that "prison, changes you." He went on to explain that with each passing year he can feel a difference in himself and he is worried he will never be the person he once was. I knew at the root of his fear was that people who once treated him with such familiarity would now be like strangers. That his crime would follow him everywhere he goes and people would be able to see his blood stained hands and not want to get close to him for fear it will rub off. That his mistake would mean that no one would love him like they once did.

On the way home from visiting him I thought about this while my father played a sermon from T.D. Jakes. The verse was out of Luke. I can't quote it exactly, but it was the same concept in the versus from Romans. The sermon was centered around the man that sat along the road to Jericho and all the people that passed him by and dismissed him because of his leprosy. All those people that could've and should've helped that man did not because they found his infliction abhorable. It was as if the mans condition made him unworthy and unlovable. As I listened, the theme of my day began to take shape in my mind, and I realized that we all share a common need and fear.

Need: To Love
Fear: Not being Loved.

My response to my cousin was that we're all changing. I myself am very different than the person I was six years ago. With aging comes awareness, sometimes an awareness you wish you didn't have. You realize that not everything that sparkles is a diamond and wolves really do wear sheeps clothing. You find yourself taking on all the responsibilities of everything bad that has ever happened to you or as a result of you: after all, who amongst us is blameless? You take on this critical lense of your own life and before you know it you have turned that critical lense outward to the rest of the world and no one can get close to you. You want to love others, but in fear of not being loved in return, you hurt them instead.

We abuse one another, whether it be emotionally or physically. We reap warfare against each other, unable to connect with each other on any real meaningful level, and are generally suspicious of one another. We cloak ourselves in an invisible protective armor, hiding all our vulnerabilities and ready to harm anyone that gets too close. The command is to love thy neighbor as ourselves, but what if you don't love yourself. Loving your neighbor seems rather impossible in that case.

In a sense, a lot of us live in a prison. We allow life to harden us. With each rejection, each disappointment, each wrong turn, we feel that we have somehow become unlovable and our greatest fear is realized; our strongest need unable to be met due mostly to our own resistance and unwillingness to show who we really are.

But, Jesus saw no fault in us so great to prevent Him from giving His life for us. Despite our deeply sinful nature, He still saw the beauty in us and He challenges us to see it in each other. He challenges us to not treat each other like lepors on the side of the road. Some of us when we see weakness in others act disgusted with the reminder of our own vulnerability in being human.

We are commanded to love not because other people deserve it, but because that is what we were created to do; we love because the almighty God loves us. Anything different is unnatural and contradictory to the will of God. So yes, life does change you, but it doesn't have to break you.

As for myself, it takes more energy the older I get to be an eternal optimist than it does to be a self-loathing pessimist; sometimes I am exhausted. There are times I find it difficult to look past my own flaws and mistakes, and I find myself wanting to hide from others. But every once in awhile something magical will happen. I will meet a complete stranger, that despite whatever wrong I may have done, whatever may be "ugly" about me, doesn't matter. Maybe for just a moment or maybe even a lifetime, we love each other and are blameless in each others site. Just like that, both our needs have been met, our fear has been temporarily subsided and all is right with the world and it is because of those moment that I know that love is real, and love is worth it and I am thankful for it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and today's lesson :). This is something we all should take more time to think about and put into proper perspective.

Not only is it "summed up in that one rule", that rule is found repeatedly in the Word of God and that rule is a commandment - to your point.

"A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34-35

Your observations are profound. My hope and prayer for us all is that we get close enough to God to be aware of His closeness to us, be aware of His love for us and fear not. That may sound idealistic, but it certainly is possible.

Notice, before we get to the commandments about how to treat others we first go through the commandments that talks about our relationship with God. It's all about relationship.

God our Father looks past our faults to see our needs. I think that in Him, we can do the same. I know it's easier said than done - I for sure have my challenges. But I do know that it can be done.

So even though I think our cousin's concerns are legitimate he will hopefully see (and we too will see) that in drawing near to God, God draws near to us. We also draw near to the love that God would have for us.

You were right to tell him that we all are changing, because we are! And that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Unfortunately his change is isolated from others.

BUT GOD! He will catch us up to each other in His own way and time. And if we're right with Him we'll do better at loving each other the right way.

Love you cousin! Keep up the good work.

Stacy

Vaughn "AtlFinanceGuy" Chambers said...

Life in your 30's. Life in your 30's depend on what you were doing in your 20's and what type of foundation you laid. Whats right, whats wrong, left turn wrong turn, as long as you try your best, treat people right, give back and have has much fun as possible, life is great at any age. Your insight is refreshing. I am not sure how I ran across this FB page but it happened and what is worth (I am sure not much) we had a blast. Human emotion can be an interesting thing at times, especially when you are in your 20's. It is nice to see someone grow and profect their craft because you have grown to be an outstanding writer. Great Work! Proud of you. In Atlanta, I have done some wonderful things as well. Check me out at www.AtlFinanceGuy.com. Keep smiling,Keep make people happy and most of all Keep Achieving!!!!

Signed,

Never Forgot and I always will