Once inside the trolley, I realized it was not a tourist ride. It was a public transportation trip through the inner ghettos. As people poured in, I noticed them. I noticed the torn up pants. The week-old dirt. I noticed the tattoos. The Narcotics Anonymous recovery backpacks. I noticed the teeth grill of gold and the huge smile at me. The family community feel. The waves hello. The guy exiting the bus saying, “Be blessed you all! Keep faith today.”
I also noticed I had love. For them. I could see the reality of their life. Instead of being stuck in my own world, avoiding others’ hardships, I was struck face-to-face with people’s real pain, history, tears, hopes, dreams and difficulties of escaping poverty.
How was I ever so oblivious? Oblivious not only to poverty, but to emotional hardships, to anger, to marital issues, to health concerns, to people needing help…to loving ones who feel like lesser people because no one sees them?
Jesus saw the lesser man and raised him up to be a greater man. May I do the same.
To see the reality of mankind, we must enter into their reality. We must confront what we avoid confronting. It’s the only way.
So, I’ve asked God, what does it look to really love?
To love we:
– Seek to understand the reality of the hardship
– Allow ourselves to feel their feelings for a moment
– Remember how we ourselves felt those painful feelings at one time or another
– Pray for understanding on how to fill gaps of pain
– Let God do the saving
– Submit to His leading
– Fill the gap by seeing through His small call to step out
No person is too far gone. No pain is too far beyond God’s ability. No soul is one He doesn’t care for. No child is left behind.
What would it look like for you to begin seeing what you avoid seeing, feeling, or relating to? What does it look like for you to step out of the world you live in and into the one you’re cynical of, apathetic to and uninvolved in?
That’s what Jesus did. He went to the Samarians. He touched the plagued. He loved the untouchables.
Jesus never permitted cynicism to rule,
even though He most certainly could have.
Jesus knew it is love heals;
Love is the complete fulfillment of all He came for.
And as Jesus puts it:
Love is our one cause and our only cause.
May we never forgo love.
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1 Pet. 4:8
Love goes. Heals. Speaks. Breaks divides. Understands. Sacrifices time and treasure. Calls people somewhere new. Lays down old stereotypes. Leans not on its own understanding or inclinations. Cares not if people see it work. Is governed by a mind of the Spirit. Brings life. Always. Continually. Eternally.
What would it look like for you to step out in love today? Ask God. Write it your answer here: ___________
Get all Purposeful Faith blog posts by email – click here.
Loading InLinkz ...The post How to Love Like Jesus appeared first on Purposeful Faith.