“Morning!” Romans 13: 8-14
8Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
11Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
There I was being carried along by culture, merely reacting to my experience, wallowing in my self-centered perspectives. I had baggage, things that I had done. And there were the hurts from the people around me who were also simply victims of their own impulses, acting out on me their pain and frustration. I was forty years old, and becoming a grumpy old man. I hated the lines at the grocery store and gas station. I was impatient in traffic, always going somewhere yet never quite getting to that place of peace and contentment that I so desperately needed. Without the blood of Christ on my doorposts I was being passed over by joy and blessings.
The great Deliverer acts in mysterious ways. He brings you to a point of desperation, then fills your need with hope. Hope is the springboard, the start of something better. Here, through commitment, you have to allow God to have his way in your life. A new day is dawning where, through Christ, sense is made of your past and insight is given as to how you got here, and what next is needed to thrive as you move forward. Love is at the center, Gods love for you, and you growing in ability to feel true affection for others. This is joy: to be brought to the center. In this is purpose.
Consider, God’s plan from the beginning was to bring individuals to this point of realization. People stray. But God’s ability to reconcile precludes everything. God saw it from the start, how mighty signs and miracles wouldn’t humble us enough to see clearly, how the fulfillment of a promise to Abraham would only engender pride, how the law in all of its tedium couldn’t bring us to the point of submission, how prophets would only be marginalized and mistreated. It took Christ to melt our hearts enough to recognize our desperate plight. His example and teachings pointed the way. Then, marvelously, he did what nobody else could do in taking our flaws and stubbornness to the cross where an atonement, a healing, took place before the eyes of all the world: God would spare nothing in bringing us to him. The astounding message? God is a gracious gift-giver; salvation is free! God loves us that much; he is compassionate, gentle, and kind. And this love is for us to experience in this life. It is the cause, condition, and realization to be felt in a world that was meant to be good, that can be good in, through, and to God. Love is the fulfillment of everything; love for God, and love of neighbor. Harmony, unity, and peace are its surplus. It's time to wake from our dreary slumber.
Loose your anxieties and fears. Loose your doubt as if it would also be loosed in heaven. Forgive one another all grievances. For if, when we meet someone in heaven we say “how did you get here?” it only proves that we didn’t get to the right mindset here on earth in the first place. I, personally, want to learn how to love people’s stories about what God is doing in their lives; how God has made a way. I want to learn to respect and appreciate other’s perspectives and experiences. Companionship for the journey is a wonderful thing. It is in the meeting with others that we see God.
In this, we shouldn’t let our differences divide us. Seeing that God no longer talks “face to face” with anyone, a little humility and meekness is reasonable. If we confess “Christ crucified,” isn’t there room for both of our opinions? Here, we could take God as seriously as we do ourselves. Respect and appreciation are in order. So, as far as is possible in us, let us be reconciled and live in peace. Alas, let God be the judge. And let love abound!