Walking the path

(3-minute read)

Every major religion has some form of “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This wasn’t a big problem because all I had to do was define who my neighbor was. I could get this down to a tiny number. But when I read the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” Bummer! I don’t even like these people. I thought, “Lord, how about if I cut off all contact, avoid them if at all possible, and not hit them in the head with a brick like they deserve?” Unfortunately, the Lord didn’t seem happy with my attitude.

I tried as best I could to love them, but I felt nothing. I waited, hoping it would come, but nothing happened. Then I thought, “Maybe I haven’t forgiven them.” After days of saying, “I forgive, I forgive, I forgive,” I realized that that wasn’t working. I don’t have many enemies, and there was only one I could reach. So, I gave him a visit and forgave him in person. Still, that love feeling wasn’t there.

I thought that love was an emotion because of the way it made me feel. Of course, if that logic held up, I would have to consider eating as an emotion. After reading as much as I could in Scripture about love, it seemed that the Lord talks as if it is a decision.

When I was born, I was the center of my world. When something happened, I thought about how it affected me. The important thing in life is what I want. I quickly discovered that I wanted others to love me. Eventually, I opened up and let someone else into the center of my world. When events happen, it is no longer just how they affect me; it becomes how they affect us.

When a woman finds out she’s pregnant as she stands there looking at lines on a stick, the first emotion she feels may not be love. Sometimes it’s fear, surprise, or a variety of other emotions. If she accepts the baby, emotions follow. Love might be immediate, but for some, it doesn’t feel real until they feel the baby move. That baby is at the very center of her life, and she no longer makes plans without considering how those plans might affect the baby. What the baby needs is just as important as what the mother needs. She loves the baby as she loves herself. She doesn’t give the baby everything it wants. It wouldn’t be good for it. This is even more obvious when the baby becomes a teenager.

I don’t want to be some pretend religious person. I want to do what the Lord wants me to do. He wants me to lay down any thoughts of revenge or ill will against my enemies. He wants me to accept them as people and let them into my world. He wants me to just let the past go. He doesn’t ask me to trust them. He doesn’t even ask me to trust my wife or children in every situation. The other day, my wife, having never used one before, wanted to use my chainsaw.

When helping someone establish a relationship with the Lord, I don’t ask them to love the Lord. I ask them to accept the Lord. I ask them to let the Lord come into the center of their life and let what he wants matter. Walk through life with him. Before his death, Jesus prayed that just as he was in the Father and the Father was in him, that we might all be together as one. Acceptance comes first, love follows.

The Lord often refers to us who follow him as his sheep. When I saw the painting my wife did of Jesus holding the lamb close, I thought of how he holds and cares for me. That painting could just as well have been how Jesus holds and cares for my enemies.