i am having a hard time with whom it is jesus actually calls us to love. the sinner, the saint, the pedophile down the street, the family member that has hurt us, the mexican working in the fields? the men in office, the murderers, the non-christians, those from other countries that hate us americans? the lost and broken, the people living in squaller, the co-worker at work that makes us see red, the rich people of the world that don't care for anyone but themselves? doesn't he call us to love the unlovable? those people we can't stand, the ones we dislike the most, the ones who make us angry at the things they have done? before christ, weren't we "those people"? i was, because i didn't know christ. and until we know christ, we don't know how to love. he loves all of us, we are all sinners, sin is sin no matter how we cook it up. and yet, we continue to sin every day, but we don't register it as sin. our thoughts, our disobedience, speeding on the interstate disobeying the law, lying by omission, being silent when we know we should say something, standing up for the little guy that doesn't seem to be heard. i have started reading hosea, (thank you bobbie), and really thinking about sin ( thank you andy). i realized that everything we hold important means nothing to the lord, and he will take it away in an instant. gone, poof, what once was is no more. he will leave us so totally empty that the only place to turn is to him. he is the living water. the only thing we need to survive. we don't need all the stuff. why? oh why?..do we keep on haulin' that bucket with a hole in it to fill up our hearts and lives? it always ends up empty, only with the "living water" can we be sustained. sin is not loving the unlovable, turning away from a friend who needs us, pretending we didn't see, jumping in with the crowd just because it is what everyone is doing, seeing only one side of things...the outside. i need to stop.... be quiet and listen to the quiet. be still and listen to the lord. "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." john 13. i need to learn to love those that i can't stand. lord, give me the courage to love the unlovable. the strength to rely on the living water and stop trying to hold on the the bucket with the hole in the bottom.
lord help me to show you and your love to all people.