switch to love

Most of us probably know a fairly large group of people by name.  Of course we have those in our family who are close, like an inner ring of relationships, and then we have friends, neighbors, church acquaintances, work associates and folks we have known well in the past, who now may be farther away.  Considering the words of First John, most of these people may not be too difficult to "love" as he exhorts in chapter 2: ¹⁰ He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. ¹¹ But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.  Of course, some people are easier to love than others.  There may be a few people in our universe of contacts that we really don't get along with well...just something about their personality...or maybe some unresolved conflict that has festered over time.  But what struck me the hardest this morning is that there is no middle ground identified...to merely "like" someone...or to "tolerate" or be apathetic about others.  It seems that there is some kind of switch, where love is "on" and hate is "off".  And then it occurred to me that our attitude toward others isn't primarily driven by them...their personalities or how we know them.  Our attitude is our attitude and we either care for others with love as our baseline or we have a baseline of disinterest toward others.  That disinterest amounts to hate because we are charged with reaching out to our world just as Jesus reached out to us.  He didn't extend Himself to us because we'd earned His love.  He did it when we were completely apart from Him because He knew the potential that existed for a close relationship and He knew we could never find Him without His outreach to us.   Our love for others parallels His love for us.  The world doesn't expect others to care for them, just as they don't think God could know and care for them.  When our switch is turned "on" and we have a baseline of love to others we are showing that there is love without condition...the kind of love God extends to us all.

1 John 3: ²³ And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

blessings,

Rob Smith