Everyone, less fever boy from last week is sick. The sound of coughing has a high probability
of sending me to the looney bin. We’re
on week two of illness. I HATE being
stuck at home….I’m definitely a go-go type of mama. The one positive side-effect of being in week
two of illness is it’s 7:23AM and everyone (less fever boy from last week) is
still sleeping. The house is quiet and I
have time to think while the sun is actually up!? So I find myself thanking God for the
sickness in my house, and typing out thoughts that have been rumbling around my
mind for the last day.
I was watching the “AD” mini-series last night, chronicling
the early years of Christianity right after Jesus died, rose again, and
ascended to heaven. The episode featured
a man who murdered a Roman guard, and was hiding in the Christian camp outside
of Jerusalem. The Jewish leader found
out the man’s location and visited Peter in the camp. I was fully expecting Peter to turn this
murderer over to face justice, and protect the camp of Christians from a Roman
invasion. But he refused. After the Jewish leader left, Peter sought
out the murderer, confronted him, and forgave him. He told the man that God was the judge and
his only assignment on this earth was to show love.
I can’t get this scene out of my head. Just an hour earlier I was watching the
nightly news….with segments on the movie theater shooting trial and the Boston marathon
bombing trial. These are two of the most
hated men in the United States today.
One has been convicted, the other will surely be convicted. It’s really no different than the murderer in
the “AD” episode. That man was the most
hated man of his day. Peter was face to
face with him and extended love and mercy.
How did he do it?
Peter had mastered the premise of Christianity: Love God.
Love Others. And that’s not, “love
God and love others that haven’t wronged you”.
We’re not meant to overthink the simplicity of these words. It’s simple and crystal clear, so why is it
so hard? I think it’s hard because love doesn’t come
from us. We have an abundant supply of
the easy kind of love….the kind of love we show to those who compliment us,
give us gifts, create a space for us to merge in a traffic jam, but true love
comes only from God. And this kind of
love is what’s required to love our enemy.
That God…..He’s pretty clever. He
made Christianity so simple, but at the same time impossible for us to put into
practice without Him.
My skin prickles at the news stories of today. Not because I’m disgusted by the criminals
wreaking havoc on our world, but because I’m sad for them. They are lost and they have hurt others in
their lostness. I think that’s a sign
that I’m on the right track. Now if I
could just have true love for all the coughers in my house:-).
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