It's such a human reaction: we're ordered to do something, and our first reaction is to say "No." We say it with all the thoughtfulness of a two-year-old who has just learned to use the word. We say it for the same reason: We don't see how else we can assert ourselves, other than being contrary. So if you tell a two-year-old, "Enjoy yourself!" you might well hear "No!"
What God requires of us -- that is met in loving each other. Think about what God is telling us to do, the lives he is telling us to build. Do we want reconciliation with our families, a large circle of friends, a rich network of fulfilling personal relationships? Do we want to be a positive force in the world and in each others' lives? Do we want to become skilled and accomplished at lifting up other people? Do we want to learn to speak words that people will hold onto like a life-raft when life swamps them? Do we want the pure joy of having a hundred people that are the "friend that is closer than a brother"?
In some ways, God's command is that we live out our deepest desire.
Why exactly do we have such a problem with it?
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5 comments:
It occurs to me the Pharisees heard the parables as commands to be separate, cleanser, superior. They were often stories of how God did just the opposite. To be holy is to be separate, but not from each other.
We live against our fears, and our tools are power, pain-relief, and philosophy. Others compete for the same resources we need in our struggle. I don't know. Some thoughts, anyway.
Good question.
Hi there
Sorry for the pokey replies. I spent a good part of this last week in New Orleans with my daughter ... and didn't give my to-do list a single thought here.
Kevin - it's amazing how we take almost anything as a call to be superior. We're so competitive. Probably because we're so scared of not being as valuable as we want to be ...
Martin - thank you, as always, for reading and commenting.
Take care & God bless
Anne / WF
I think the answer to you question is found within the "wholeness" and/versus "oneness" context of your blessedly profound Mobius Strip post from 2007. Please let me know via email if you are attracted to (ie., would love to) know more about what I am proposing. I think it might be worth some contemplating by a very special person like you who is a wise Lord-fearing & God-loving software programmer/designer. Maybe.
Max pax, Yale
Hi Yale
I am intrigued but would prefer a little more information before we trade emails.
So ... if Mobius is tied in ... and wholeness v. oneness is the Mobius merry-go-round in question ... then love is completing the circuit by identifying with the "other" and removing the gap? And that makes us whole?
Have I read you right?
Wow, if that's your thought, then hatred is a disruption of the space-time continuum and the universe that's worthy of the Daleks ... Actually, simple failure to love is.
Let me know if I'm on the right track or if you're thinking in another direction.
Take care & God bless
WF
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