Embrace part 1
You had to know I was gonna pull on this thread a little bit. I truly think one of the things the world is most desperate for is a loving embrace. And it drives me absolutely bonkers crazy when we put up hoops for people to jump through in order to earn they thing they NEED. Notice--I didn't say want. I said need. Remember the old song, "What the world needs now... is love... sweet love..." For real. And since we have it, we ought to give it. Which is literally what it says in my verse for today. 1 John 3:16, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." It's the same idea behind the New Commandment. Love one another AS Jesus loves you. It's receiving it and releasing it. Letting it fill you to overflowing and come out naturally. What Jesus did for us, we can now do for each other. We can give the world what it needs. (Again: A loving embrace.) Look at what might be the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (And to me it's no coincidence that both of my verses for today are 3:16s.) Notice who God loved--the world. It seems like the only people Jesus actually had a problem with were the religious folks. The folks who thought they were "up here" while the rest of the world was "down there." And isn't that kind of the same religious mindset we see all the time? "We're going up and you're going down." "Get right or get left." But let me tell you something: You can't scare someone straight. People are who they are--or rather, who they think they are--and they do what they do. Behavior modification is not an effective form of... anything, really. But teaching someone who they really are (by, you guessed it, wrapping them in a loving embrace... by being who YOU really are and SHOWING them a more excellent way) equips and empowers them to BE who they really are. But here's the scary part: People won't change on your timetable. And even when they make some progress, they're also going to make some mistakes. Sometimes it feels like one step forward and two steps back. Sometimes it feels like people always let you down. But that doesn't mean you give up on them. Jesus said the greatest love a man can have is to lay down His life for His friends. He didn't say it was to give them three strikes and then they're out. In fact, He had this exchange with His disciple in Matthew 18:21-22, "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." Basically: Don't stop forgiving. Which brings us back to our "receive it and release it" principle. You don't forgive in order to be forgiven. You forgive BECAUSE you were forgiven. You simply give what you've got. You simply open your arms wide--like Jesus did on the cross--and give people what they need. Can I say it one more time? A loving embrace!