What the World Needs Now is Love

The past couple of weeks have seemed like a sort of déjà vu back to my childhood.  Being raised in the tumultuous 1960’s, I remember a lot of events that were very similar to what has been happening around our nation recently.  And as a native Californian, I was living near many of these events – although admittedly I was protected by my parents and not fully aware of the importance or impact until later in life.  As a person with white privilege, my parents were able to make choices to protect me because their lives were not ruled by the fear my non-white schoolmates’ families experienced.

I remember watching President Kennedy’s funeral on television when I was 5 years old.  The year I turned ten there were two more prominent assassinations just two months apart – Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy.  When I was almost seven (and living in southern California), rioting occurred for several nights in the Watts district of Los Angeles.  A few years later, while living in the San Francisco Bay area, the Summer of Love brought 100,000 young people to the Haight-Ashbury district of the city; and riots in that area also occurred.  In 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated, and the Black Panthers were formed in Oakland (across the bay from where I lived) in 1966.  In the southern U.S. (far from where I lived), sit-ins, marches, and police brutality were regular occurrences in the 1960’s.  There were many other similar events happening all over the country – all fueled by people feeling the need for changes in social policy and government decisions and regulations. 

It appears that King Solomon was right: there really doesn’t seem to be anything new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9).  Although it has been over 50 years since these events from my childhood, there sadly seems to have been little change in our capacity as humans to treat each other with respect.  I am struck by the fact that people like George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery (and others) weren’t even born during that previous time, yet not much has improved.  How can we properly honor their memory and try to understand what life is like for people without white privilege?

Since the beginning of time, there has always been a mixture of human responses to those who are different from us, as well as mixed reactions to instances of injustice.  Sometimes the responses are peaceful, and sometimes they are violent.  In the Old Testament, when the Israelites sent spies into the Promised Land to check it out, only two returned with a true story based on faith in God.  Guided by fear, the other ten exaggerated the size and capabilities of the people in the land who were different than them.  Around the time of Jesus (and before), there were different reactions to the oppressive Roman rule in Israel.  The Essenes peacefully withdrew by themselves and lived like a community of hermits, while the Zealots were always trying to stir up violent insurrections against the government.  In the 1960’s, some Americans staged silent sit-ins and marches, while others used violence and force to get their message across.  In 2020, we still have the same varied options available to us.  And we have seen every option played out over the past couple weeks.  This is not an American problem; it is a human problem.

In the Old Testament, God told us what we need to do in order to stop repeating this history, and Jesus confirmed it again in the New Testament: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18 & Luke 10:27).  It’s that simple, and it’s that hard.  But here’s what I find interesting: in both passages, “neighbor” is defined not as someone who looks like us, acts like us, or shares our same beliefs – but precisely those that do not.  When God spoke these words to the Israelites, it was in preparation of entering the Promised Land where the Canaanites who inhabited the land were by definition very “different” than God’s chosen people.  And Jesus spoke these words to first century Roman-ruled Jewish people in a land filled with other Gentiles as well.  In fact, the context of Jesus’ words includes the parable of the Good Samaritan in order to answer the question that was asked, “Who is my neighbor?”  It might be easier to love the neighbors that are more like us, but we are called specifically to love those neighbors that are NOT like us.  We are even told to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). 

I am only one person, and it is easy to feel helpless with the current state of the world.  But it seems that what the world needs the most really is love, and God’s way has always been to work through individual people in seemingly small ways to change the world for his kingdom.  Change starts when each of us chooses to love our neighbors as ourselves – one day at a time, one person at a time.  Especially the neighbors that we find the most difficult to love.  And we can start today – even if we have failed miserably in the past.  We can all choose to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.   

 

“What the world needs now is love, sweet love

It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of

What the world needs now is love, sweet love

            No not just for some, but 
          for everyone.” 

So What?

I’m a painfully practical person without an ounce of dreamer in me.  I always seem to be asking the “so what?” question.  Most people would probably consider me to be boring, but none of us can completely change how God wired us.

As this pandemic continues to dictate our daily lives, I’m struck by the fact that we are all stuck in the same place right now.  For some, it’s a prison; for others, it’s freedom.  Although many of those closest to me tend to see this more like a prison than a respite, I can’t say that I begin to understand exactly how they feel.  I recognize, however, that how we are responding to our current situation is greatly affected by how we’re wired.

While many are struggling to find meaning or purpose in their days right now, others are finding joy in developing new skills or having time to read new books or complete long-dormant projects.  Still others are finding ways to be useful to others during this unprecedented time in our era, and I applaud them.  There is no “right” way to spend our downtime as long as it is not self-destructive or abusive to others.  But all of us can probably look for “better” or “best” ways to spend our time – whether now or when things are normal.

Here’s the question that’s come to my mind – the “so what?” question for the COVID-19 quarantine:  when it’s all over, will there be any lasting changes in my life?  Will anything I am choosing to do today make a difference in the future?  We all have lots of time on our hands right now, but are we doing anything to develop character or prepare us for better service to others?  Or will we all go back to our individual, selfish lives and relative uselessness for God’s kingdom when it’s all over? 

I’m pointing fingers at myself as much as anyone else.  I hope that I am daily seeking God during this crisis in a way that will not be forgotten when it is over.  By default, God’s presence and friendship are currently replacing the presence and friendship of others; but let me not lose sight of the importance of God's presence and friendship even when I am able to return to the presence and friendship of others in my life.  As the quarantined weeks go on without an end in sight, I challenge you to think beyond right now and choose to start building a future that makes a difference.  

Looking Through 90-Year-Old Eyes

 

The COVID-19 virus has taken over our lives.  Social media and regular media alike are saturated with non-stop stories and posts allegedly designed to keep us well-informed; but I think these outlets are fueling fear and panic more than disseminating information.  The only good thing I can gain from this is that I haven’t seen any stories or posts on politics or the 2020 election recently, and for that I’m very thankful!  But does this current situation HAVE to take over our lives?  While it is inconvenient and annoying for all of us, shouldn’t we as Christians approach something like this in a different way?

My mother quietly turned 90 years old this past week, and making preparations for an upcoming family party to celebrate her longevity has helped me to look at things with different eyes.  There’s a reason the Bible tells us to respect our elders and seek wisdom from them.  When I look at all that she has seen and heard in 90 years of life, I am filled with awe at how resilient humans can actually be.

Born just a few months after the 1929 stock market crash, the first ten years of her life were permeated by the Great Depression – and then there was a long world war.  All of her formative years were spent seeing poverty around her, shortages for everyone, government rationing (during the war), and lowered expectations of what we all deserve.  As a result, my Mom is probably the most frugal person I know (except for maybe my Dad before he died).  The culture of her childhood was much quicker to share with neighbors and help others – because everyone 

was in the same boat together.

Not so in the 21^st century.  Although King Solomon (the wisest man who ever lived) told us that “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9), we seem to think we are currently in an unprecedented situation that we somehow must seek to control for our own benefit.  So it doesn’t matter if my neighbor has enough toilet paper or food to eat; all that matters is that my family has enough to last until the end of time.  But Christians should be different.  We shouldn’t be giving in to fear and panic like everyone else.

Why?  Because we have been told not to cling to this life (Luke 17:33), but to see it merely as a stepping stone to eternity with God.  The only purpose of our life on earth is to grow more Christlike and bring glory to God – thus preparing us for the eternal life we were created for.  This life is NOT the point!  In times of crisis, it is important for us to remember this and model this for others.  If we fully trust only in God – who alone is certain and unchangeable, we will understand that whatever happens to us in this life is within his sovereignty and designed for our best – no matter how painful it might be from a human standpoint.  If COVID-19 is contracted by me or someone I love – even if it brings death to our family – God loves me and knows what he’s doing!  I am not more important than anyone else.   

When I think about the positive things we Christians can be doing during this crisis, I don’t have to look any further than at Jesus’ example.  We think we are “suffering” right now; but imagine what it was like for the fully divine ruler of the universe to make his dwelling place on earth (John 1:14).  Every moment of Jesus’ life, his experiences were totally “other” than what he was accustomed to.  If you think it’s difficult to deal with some of the people you know, imagine what it was like for Jesus! 

Yet his example for us was to love everyone, have compassion on them when they were off-base, pray for them, and sacrifice his own rights for the sake of others.  Prayer should be first and foremost – it is one of the few things we can do consistently from the isolation of our homes.  But let’s make sure we aren’t using our prayer time to further our own self-interests by asking God to keep us and everyone we love safe and protected.  While Jesus told God exactly how he felt about his upcoming suffering and death, he quickly submitted his will to God’s will in regards to his own problems and devoted most of his prayer time in the garden to lifting up others, including us.  Are we praying for the families who have lost someone during this crisis?  Are we praying for the isolated and confused elderly who can no longer be visited by their family members?  Are we praying for people to be open to hear the gospel and for changed lives during this difficult time?  The list could go on. 

Most people in our society are responding to COVID-19 in self-protective ways and trying to get whatever they think they deserve – at the store, from their employers, from the government, etc.  But as Christians we know that none of us actually deserves anything but suffering and death.  By God’s grace, we have all been shown mercy and given a way to eternal freedom.  Does my response during this worldwide crisis lead others to the truth, or do I look just like everyone else?