Loving Even The Wolves

God's brand of love is crazy. I don't mean just fantastic crazy, although it is that; I mean genuinely off-your-rocker crazy. Like, if you do ever fully act in the spirit of God's love, you may be considered lacking sense. Well, that's the world for you.

See, the world has its own brand of wisdom, which is not God's. We've grown up in it, and throughout our lives have become inundated with it. So much so, that when we really pay attention to this "worldly wisdom," it makes complete sense.

A few years ago, I was driving to daycare and work with Cadence in the backseat. She was about 3-4 years old at the time. We'd been talking about Jesus' command to love God and love your neighbor. So, I asked her who her neighbor was. Out came God's wisdom when she stated proudly, "everyone is!" I was a bit stunned with her words, as I'd never actually told her that. It's true though, isn't it?

"But the teacher of the Law wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered, “There was once a man who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when robbers attacked him, stripped him, and beat him up, leaving him half dead. It so happened that a priest was going down that road; but when he saw the man, he walked on by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also came there, went over and looked at the man, and then walked on by on the other side. But a Samaritan who was traveling that way came upon the man, and when he saw him, his heart was filled with pity. He went over to him, poured oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them; then he put the man on his own animal and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Take care of him,’ he told the innkeeper, ‘and when I come back this way, I will pay you whatever else you spend on him.’” And Jesus concluded, “In your opinion, which one of these three acted like a neighbor toward the man attacked by the robbers?” The teacher of the Law answered, “The one who was kind to him.” Jesus replied, “You go, then, and do the same.” Luke 10:29-37

The teacher of the law was hoping to find out who he needed to love and who he didn't. Instead, Jesus answered that the teacher of the law needed to be a neighbor himself, helping even those considered an enemy (as Samaritans were at the time).

There's a good deal of debate around this very subject as concerns immigrants and refugees. Many fear wolves in sheep clothing.

As much as we all hope our government will represent our own tightly-held principles, every country, heck every room with more than one person, holds many points of view. This isn't about the government, politics, or even what your neighbor is doing. You have little to no immediate control over such things. You do have control over YOU.

Does it sound crazy to hold a hand out to your enemy? Probably so. Yet, God says to do just that:

"Whenever you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has collapsed under its load, don’t leave it there. Be sure to help him with his animal." Exodus 23:5

Again:

“If you have enemies who are hungry, give them something to eat. If you have enemies who are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this you will make them feel ashamed.” Don’t let evil defeat you, but defeat evil by doing good." Romans 12:20-21

And again:

"If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the LORD will reward you." Proverbs 25:21-22

And again:

“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. “Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. “Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." Luke 6:27:36

Did you realize that sinners are enemies of God? Do you recall that you're a sinner? Yet, He loves you. So, whatever you believe the right method is in dealing with the threat of wolves, remember you are a child of God who is called to love like crazy, and ""Let all that you do be done in love." 1 Corinthians 16:14.

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For the story of one man in Bible who showed mercy to his enemy and was considered "a man after God's own heart":

"The men said to David, “Today is the day the Lord spoke of when he said, ‘I will give your enemy over to you. Do anything you want with him.’” Then David crept up to Saul and quietly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Later David felt guilty because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. He said to his men, “May the Lord keep me from doing such a thing to my master! Saul is the Lord’s appointed king. I should not do anything against him, because he is the Lord’s appointed king!” David used these words to stop his men; he did not let them attack Saul. Then Saul left the cave and went his way. When David came out of the cave, he shouted to Saul, “My master and king!” Saul looked back, and David bowed facedown on the ground. He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when people say, ‘David wants to harm you’? You have seen something with your own eyes today. The Lord put you in my power in the cave. They said I should kill you, but I was merciful. I said, ‘I won’t harm my master, because he is the Lord’s appointed king.’ My father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe, but I didn’t kill you. Now understand and know I am not planning any evil against you. I did nothing wrong to you, but you are hunting me to kill me. May the Lord judge between us, and may he punish you for the wrong you have done to me! But I am not against you. There is an old saying: ‘Evil things come from evil people.’ But I am not against you."1Samuel 24:4-13

My Crazy Testimony

I didn't grow up "in the church," so churchy terminology feels strange and archaic to me. For the longest time, I honestly didn't know I had a testimony.

So, for those, like me, who didn't know, this is the definition of testimony according to Google:

tes·ti·mo·ny


/ˈtestəˌmōnē/


noun

noun: testimony; plural noun: testimonies

•a formal written or spoken statement, especially one given in a court of law.

•evidence or proof provided by the existence or appearance of something.

•a public recounting of a religious conversion or experience.

What's interesting is the Bible and Torah has ideas that formed the backbone of many legal systems around the world. One of these ideas is the testimony. If you were pulled as a witness in a court of law and questioned as to the existence or the character of God, what would you say?

When I was 11, just about to turn 12, my aunt's boyfriend (who was Muslim) told me that Islam has something called "the age of accountability." Basically, this is the age people are old enough to be held accountable for their own actions. I may not have grown up in the church, but I grew up with very religious/spiritual parents, and I was very determined to be perfect for God.

I could envision a forest, each tree a person. In order to be noticed by God (whom I'd already fallen in love with), I needed to be the tallest one, and I figured the way to stand out for God was to be sinless. So, I'd been reading the Bible (understanding it in my limited way as a child), and in the old testament there are a heck of a lot of rules, laws, and ordinances. It was overwhelming for me at the time.

One night, I lie in bed and prayed to God. I needed something simpler I could remember, so no matter what I faced in life, I'd know I was doing the right thing.

Now, I was 11, remember, so I still believed in a magical God, in which many adults have probably lost faith. So, I expected to be answered, but not directly of course. Perhaps, He would communicate by way of a TV program or a song that would hit the right message.

I was hoping for a paragraph or something I could memorize. Surely, it would take at least a page to summarize the Bible's laws.

In the dark of my bedroom, I heard a single solitary word:

Love.

It was like a thought, but it also felt separate from me.

So, of course, I immediately started arguing with it. No way that was it. That was too easy to remember, too simplistic, idealistic, rainbow, unicorns ...

My mother once told me if I ever heard anything pertaining to God, to check the Bible before absorbing the message. If anything conflicted with what was said in the Bible, it wasn't of God. So, I turned on the light and went to my bookshelf. Picking up my Bible, I flipped randomly through. It fell open to a page in the new testament - Matthew 22:36-40:

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

I can't even explain how dumbfounded I was that night. I still argued with the word "love" for the rest of the night, tossing the idea to and fro in my mind until I fell asleep.

I have since realized this event was too coincidental to be anything but God answering my prayer, and nothing has conflicted with the idea that "love" summarizes all of God's laws. In fact, Love is the meaning of life, and as the Bible will also say, God is Love.

This is one of the reasons behind this blog. No one but God can be perfect, but we will always be loved. We are also called to love.

That moment has shaped the rest of my life, and I hope my testimony will shape yours.