Love Like a Child

So, I'm thinking about love today... and yesterday... well, probably for a few days. I don't know, but that's what's on my mind and I realize that's just something that is fundamental to the Christian faith, but I think it's something we have a hard time with. I can't speak for everyone, but I'm not naturally a loving person. It takes effort. But I used to be really loving...

... Then I grew up. Why does that always have to happen? Anyway, society taught me some very sad lessons:
1. Not everyone is good.
2. Not everyone deserves kindness.
3. If you're really poor and you're not a university student, you're worthless.

Then I grew up some more and realized I still want to love people. I want to believe that everyone deserves kindness. Jesus didn't stick his nose in the air if he was approached by a beggar or a prostitute or a murderer. He healed them, he loved them and he forgave them.

When Jesus told the disciples to let the children come to him he said, "the kingdom of God belongs to such as these" then he went on to say that we need to receive the kingdom of God like children. We speak of 'faith like a child', and I'm sure that's part of it. But what about loving like children? I think the love of children is a pure and innocent love that doesn't judge. My heart breaks when I think of all the people who are not shown love by Christians because they're just 'not good people'. And we act as if civility is good enough... Let's give people more credit than that! If we are just civil because we don't want to show our disdain, we are doing wrong. Anyone can detect when you have an air of superiority, and it's highly offensive. Don't think manners can mask it.

In Bible college, I got talking to some people about this one day, and one of my friends said she'd have trouble showing love to a murderer... but she wasn't saying it like it was a confession. It wasn't like, "I have trouble with this and I know it's wrong". It was more like, "That's where I draw the line." And I was so saddened by it. I've never forgotten that moment because this girl I really respected for her deep faith in Jesus was forgetting how deep his love is! Maybe it really hit me because I'd just read Crime and Punishment. I know I am also guilty of forgetting how deep the love of God is.

I've been really heartbroken lately over things I've read about other places in the world. There is so much need, and it's more than just the fact that people are poor and starving. There's so much hate in the world, and I want no part of it except to help people see that there's a better way. But as I think about it now, I'm thinking of all the need in our own country, and all the people I saw when I lived in the city who need love. I never stop and talk to people who are begging on the street. How much difference does a bit of change make? A lot of them spend it on things that are killing them. But I wonder if I could make a difference in someone's life by stopping for a couple minutes and having a conversation. I wonder what could happen if each time I stop to give someone change I also treat them with the respect they deserve as human beings, so they know that I don't think I'm above them, even so that I understand I'm not above them. ... I want to be like Jesus and act like I'm just another person in their midst.

But I'm not Jesus - How is it that I act like I'm better than others, and HE didn't??? If only I could fully grasp the concept that I am just another person in the midst of all others who deserve love...

... Let's love like children. Let's love like we mean it!