Love One Another

If you’ve been watching the news lately, you know that much of it has not been good.  People killed by police in Minnesota and Louisiana, allegedly because of race.  Police killed in Dallas, allegedly in retaliation.  Lots of other killings, too.

As you know, I usually don’t comment about things like this.  I did think about it.  Lots of other pastors I know commented on it.  But I am choosing not to, for two reasons.

First, I don’t know what I could say that has not already been said by others.  Many people have said everything I would know to say and then some, and have said it much better than I ever could.  Many people have said things I would not say, too, of course.  There seems to be no shortage of people who are willing to say things about this.  I see nothing to be gained by adding my voice to the discordant chorus of voices.

Second, while I could state my opinion, I really have no idea what to do about any of this.  Neither does anybody else, really.  I mean, some people will put forward some suggestions, but the fact is that there’s no simple, easy solution.  If there was, we’d have put it in place by now.  And the suggestions I’ve heard don’t really seem like they’d solve the problem, either.

The fact is that what we’re dealing with here has to do with human nature, and human nature does not change a lot.  That’s one of the things we can learn by reading the Bible.  All of the same emotions, all of the same problems, all of the same sins that we deal with now were present thousands of years ago.  They may take somewhat different forms, but they’re still there.

The solution, if there is one, comes from following Jesus’ “new commandment” to love one another.  I say that, of course, and it sounds nice.  A lot of people would probably agree with that.  But how do we get everyone to do it?  I don’t know.  I don’t know how we get there from here.

And in fact, I don’t think we can.  Not by ourselves.  Again, we’re dealing with human nature, and there’s only one way that can change.  That’s by the moving of the Holy Spirit.  The only solution I can see is for the Holy Spirit to work in the human heart to change our nature.

Now, that does not mean we should just sit around and do nothing.  The Holy Spirit generally works through people.  Through you and through me.  And while the Holy Spirit can affect lots of people at once, quite often, things happen one person at a time.

So, if we want to do something about these killings, here’s what I think we should do:  love one another.  To paraphrase John Wesley, show all the love you can.  In every way you can.  In all the places you can.  At all the times you can.  To all the people you can.  For as long as you ever can.

If we all do that, we will have an effect.  It won’t happen overnight.  It could happen sooner than you think, though.  Each one of us affects far more people than we ever realize, just by living our lives.  And those people will affect other people.  And it will go on and on.  We can affect people we don’t even know.  We can affect people who will never know us.  We could start a movement here that could spread around the world.

Does that seem far-fetched?  Maybe it does.  But God can do anything.  If we all do what Jesus commanded, if we all love one another, who knows how far that could spread?  Who knows what might happen?

Let’s love one another.  And let’s not wait.  Let’s start right now, today.  This minute.  Let’s love one another.