Loving All

I have been doing some soul searching. As a Christian I am called to love everyone from the easy to like to the unlovable. I encounter both most days at my job. I work with the public and believe me, some are really a royal pain. We have the chronic complainers, the ones you simply cannot please. The unpleasant odors of the homeless who will not or cannot bathe. The loud and obnoxious. The insolent teens. The argumentative and the yellers. I am supposed to love them the way God does, but my buttons can only be pushed so many times and then I lose the love that I should have for those who are made in God's image no matter how they appear or present themselves. It's so easy to love with God's love the pleasant people who greet me kindly. But the pushy are a challenge and frankly, all too often I fail.

Everyday on my way to work, I pray for those I will encounter. I pray for the strength I need to love all I will see. If I fail, it's not because God failed me. He loves unconditionally, and he loves me even when I don't measure up. For that I am grateful. It reminds me that I can be unlovable, too; yet I am loved. Next Monday when I get back to work, I will once again pray and learn to love as I ought: God's way. I have faith that by the power of the Holy Spirit, I will, little by little, learn to love those who are difficult, to pray for them, to be kind to them no matter how they treat me. God will give me what I need to accomplish this if I draw on his love. It's there. I just need to tap into it.

The day will come when I will always love unconditionally because I am my Father’s daughter and have inherited his character—it’s just not completely evident yet. Until then, I will continue to press forward to grasp what is his nature, the all consuming love that he pours out. May it flow through me to all I encounter. As scripture says, I love because he first loved me. Let this be so in my life today and all days.

Proclaiming Communion

Today we had communion at church. It is a sacrament that I look forward to. Ever since I was young, I have always known that it was something very special, significant in the lives of Christians. I remember as a child not being allowed to take it, it was only for those who embraced the mystery of it, because it is a holy sign of God’s grace given freely for and to us. I understand that now. I also understand the gift of salvation represented in the elements. The shed blood and broken body of Christ for our benefit. Though we do not deserve it, yet we are of inestimable value to God and he gave all to bring us back into fellowship with him.

I cannot approach communion lightly. It is not just a rite we perform once a month. It represents the suffering and death of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Scripture says as we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim the death of Christ until he returns. I believe that truth, that fundamental tenet of the faith I embrace. What we need to grasp as we eat the bread and drink the wine is that without death there can be no resurrection. That’s why proclaiming Christ’s death is so fundamental. His resurrection is our hope and our joy; the promise of our own resurrection, even in this life as we are gradually transformed into his likeness.

Remember this as you next take communion. Remember the price Jesus paid as he went to the cross as ransom for us. Death has been conquered and the promise of a life everlasting is ours even now. Darkness and death have been overcome by the light and life of God. We have that light within us now. We are alive in Christ and we will experience that light and life throughout eternity. Communion reminds us of that. It is a sure promise we can stake our lives on, now and forever.