The other day I posted a blog about loving the unlovable and the concept of learning to love how Jesus loved. Today I want to talk about the attitude behind the actions. Loving isn't love if you don't mean it.I think one of the ways that people get it wrong is to think that your motives don't matter. You have to go through the actions, but you don't have to really feel love for each other. I know that sometimes loving someone is a difficult task if you have to feel it, too. I can be kind and generous and patient and caring and hospitable and merciful and gracious without an ounce of love in my heart.
Do you know someone who is hard to love? Someone that you'd rather not be around? Someone who rubs you the wrong way? Someone who has poor hygiene? Someone who annoys you so much? These are people who it is hard to love. Christ doesn't call us to dedicate our lives to learning how to be bosom buddies with every other person in our lives, but he does call us to love one another. What is he talking about?
Listen to this passage from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 6 (NIV):
27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
How is it that we are expected to love like Jesus loved? A crazy, society-defying type of love...
I think it begins by learning to see with Jesus' eyes. How did he look at people? What did he see when he looked at them? When I see a panhandler on a street corner, I see a person who made some bad life decisions... or a person who is not willing to do some honest work... or a person who is most likely scamming honest people with falsehoods about being willing to work for food. What would Jesus see if he saw the same person? I think he saw a soul worth saving. I think Jesus saw a person he was willing to die to redeem from sin. I think Jesus counted that person worthy of being loved by the Creator God. How can I see less than that?
I call this process, "Learning to be Cross-eyed". Jesus knew he was going to suffer on the cross for me, for the panhandlers, for thieves, murderers, gossips, adulterers, liars and jerks. Yet, he was able to see past the cross. Can we see past the cross and count people worth of our love? I believe that when we can learn to see people with the eyes of Christ, we will be able to love them like Jesus loves them. We can love like crazy.
