A Few Words on Loving Others

This week brought even more grief to our country – the murder of George Floyd. My heart is broken over his senseless death. I haven’t watched the video in full, nor do I plan to. The little bit I watched shattered me. I weep when I think back to how he begged for his life. He pleaded for his mom, for relief, and for help. The cops offered no relief, no mercy, no compassion. Though I don’t know exactly what they were thinking, their actions showed they dehumanized Mr. Floyd. How else could you ignore someone’s pleas for help? How else could you continuously kneel on someone as they begged to breathe?

I struggle to find the right words to say, because I’m still processing everything and learning as much as I can. I’ve spoken plenty of times out of ignorance, and I don’t want to do that now.

I do know this: fear, judgment, and hate are growing exponentially in our world today. It would be easy to blame this growth on the pandemic or politics, but these are not to blame. What is to blame is what’s in our hearts. Fear breeds hate. Judgement breeds hate. Hate breeds even more hate.

When we hate others, we dehumanize them. We see ourselves as better than them, when in fact, we are all created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 9:6). When we see anyone as less than us, we are harboring pride in our hearts.

First John 4:20 says “If anyone says, ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” Jesus also commands us to love our neighbors (Matthew 22:39). Your neighbor is anyone God puts in your path. It doesn’t matter if they are liberal, conservative, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, or what. There are no ifs, ands, or buts in His command. And, though His command may seem simple, it requires us to dig deep within ourselves to confront any prejudicial thoughts or beliefs we may hold.

So, how do we do that?

First, we need to pause and pray. We need to ask Him to show us the areas in our own lives where fear, judgment, and hate reside so we may cut them out of our hearts through His Word – the Sword of the Spirit. We also need to ask God for His wisdom and truth to shine through the darkness enveloping our world right now.

Then, we, individually and as the Church, need to stand up, speak out, and shine our light in this dark world. When we see hate, we need to counter it with God’s love and truth. Jesus tells us we are the light of the world and to not hide our light (Matthew 5:14-15). He also says in John 13:35 that they will know we are His disciples by our love for one another.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m still processing all of this. These are just my initial thoughts. I am praying for peace and comfort for the Floyd family as they grieve the loss of their loved one. I’m praying for healing for our country. I’m also praying for those responsible for Mr. Floyd’s murder. Finally, I’m praying for myself. I pray I have no prejudice within me. I pray I remember to love others. I also pray for the courage to speak out and shine His light in this dark world.

What can you do to show love to others? How can you shine His light in your community?