LOVE ONE ANOTHER — the greatest commandment God ever gave, and yet the hardest to live. Through this one commandment all the others are met, and yet we can’t live it. We as a whole, cannot seem to love the way God intended. Can we love individually? I would say yes. You love your mother? Your father? Your child? Your siblings? So why not your neighbor, your friend, your teacher, your student, the familiar face at the local grocery store, or maybe the one causing a scene, maybe they need some of your love. How about your enemy?
Sadly enough, the world that we live in will be filled with enemies, but it will also be filled with those who love you, but it is our burden to love them both equally.
“When you suffer I suffer”
Have you ever felt those words escape your lips? If you have then you’ve felt the love that is willing to sacrifice. When you feel a bond so deep for someone that you can’t stand to see them suffering, and you are willing to do more, to heal their pain. It is the type of love we all desire, and the type of love we should be willing to give one another, to all, without respect. To those within our circle and without.
You are not alone
Our biggest mistake is believing that we are in this fight alone. That we are born into this world, and must claw our way up to the top from nothing with no one. And yet most of us have felt like that is our fight at one time or another. To be not alone is to be there for another. Your presence is needed by your brothers and sisters who are suffering, as their presence is needed when you suffer. Please do not let the cries of the suffering linger, please do not be deaf and blind when they yell and scream and cause a scene, because they need you.
Our Lord and Saviour turned his cheek to his oppressors. He is the greatest example of love, temperance, kindness, understanding and tolerance. But he alone was perfect. No other man would be as tolerant. No other man would be as quiet. No other man would ask they be forgiven. Because no other man could endure what he did. And yet some would demand that people endure suffering the same.
To be angry, I understand. To feel sadness, I understand. To feel confusion, I understand. To let go is hard. To walk away is harder. To turn around and show love and compassion for those who oppress you and wish you harm– that is Christlike. And all we can do is strive to be like him, mostly failing, but with the resilience to try again.
So to my brothers and sisters whose people have been oppressed for hundreds of years, holding their tongues, turning their cheeks, giving love when none was required, giving compassion when none was required, you are an example to us all. You have endured suffering for generations, and though many may condemn your moments of outcry and anger, you are heard. Those that love you can hear you, those that hate you can hear you. To be heard is the first step, to be loved is next, and to continue to love others while you are hated is a task that not many have accomplished. And yet you’ve been more capable than any other people. You have proven that you are more like unto our Savior than any other, for enduring suffering so long, the likes that your oppressor cannot stand for a mere second without turning ugly.
Your suffering will come to an end
Isaiah 51 Excerpt (NIV)
12 “I, even I, am he who comforts you.
Who are you that you fear mere mortals,
human beings who are but grass,
13 that you forget the Lord your Maker,
who stretches out the heavens
and who lays the foundations of the earth,
that you live in constant terror every day
because of the wrath of the oppressor,
who is bent on destruction?
For where is the wrath of the oppressor?
14 The cowering prisoners will soon be set free;
they will not die in their dungeon,
nor will they lack bread.
15 For I am the Lord your God,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the Lord Almighty is his name.
16 I have put my words in your mouth
and covered you with the shadow of my hand—
I who set the heavens in place,
who laid the foundations of the earth,
and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
—
21 Therefore hear this, you afflicted one,
made drunk, but not with wine.
22 This is what your Sovereign Lord says,
your God, who defends his people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
the cup that made you stagger;
from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,
you will never drink again.
23 I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,
who said to you,
‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’
And you made your back like the ground,
like a street to be walked on.”
You are surely God’s people
All those who have endured suffering and carried on in love. Your time to suffer is coming to an end.
For all of God’s children. Lift up your heads, turn your hearts to the Savior, who teaches the bitter heart to turn sweet. Continue to turn every day, because every day the heart wants to turn bitter again. Sadly there are people and things in this world that attempt to destroy you, to bring you down. We can fight when it’s right, and we can love through it all, and we can do that together, as one, and under God, and he will provide.
Keep up the righteous fight. Love one another. Make it a priority in your life. Serve your fellow man, and you are not alone, for God is with you.
Black Lives Matter. All of them.
With Love,
Drea & Kels