Love Decentered!
Hatred means there is a deficit of understanding. Daily I see so much hatred. Hatred for groups that live a life that is different. Those that may have been born in the wrong body. Those that may have been born with different preferences. Those that have been born with different skin, different beliefs or different interpretations of the word. As she walked out of the group my mind wondered as to why? She simply couldn’t listen to the discussion any longer, because it didn’t fit into her mold of what was right… what was wrong. She had spent her life believing a certain direction of scripture and to think outside her comfort zone was simply more than she could handle. Then I think of our Savior and how much he taught outside the comfort zone of the people. He challenged almost everything they believed. He asked “who should cast the first stone”. He asked “why do you break the commandment of love for the sake of your tradition?”. “If you love only those who are easy then what reward will you get?”. Jesus new commandment of love meant that neither beliefs, nor words, neither taboos, systems, structures nor the labels that enshrined them mattered most. Love decentered everything else; love relativized everything else; love took priority over everything else—everything. When the glorious day comes for me to sit with Jesus… the discussion will not be about you or my neighbor. It will simply be about me, and how much I loved you!
Matt 22:37 / Matt 5:43
I Love You!
Perry