It Seems Hard to Love One Another These Days!

John 14:15

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

It seems hard to love one another these days. For example – I tried to cheer on the Washington Nationals as they were in the playoffs and eventually won Major League Baseball’s World Championship in 2019. Yet – pushback came from National’s fans calling me a pretend fan who was jumping on the bandwagon late. I also took pushback from others – calling me out for rooting for the Nationals – since I’m a diehard Orioles fan – as if I couldn’t root for another local team – simply because my team wasn’t in the playoffs (or even being over .500). I could better understand if the Orioles and Nationals were in the same league or division and competing for the same league championship. But the Nationals are my National League team – since I was a young child – I’ve rooted for the local Washington team – back in the day it was the Senators (my dad was a big fan). When I was 12 – I began to root for the Orioles and have stayed with them ever since.

It seems hard to love one another these days. For example – because I have Facebook friends from all walks of life – we don’t all agree on many subjects. Be it sports (Ravens and Steeler fans – Oriole and Yankee fans) – or politics (Republican and Democrat – Trump and Biden or Trump anything – there are some never Trumpers in my friends group) – or theologically (left and right – liberal and conservative – Christian and atheists or others) – my friends are all over the place. We hardly agree on much of anything. As a matter of fact – some have unfriended me because of my beliefs (my theology or ideology). I have snoozed some of late to keep their negative attitude off my feed so I can have some sanity.

It seems hard to love one another these days. For example – I believe we have lost the skill – ability – or even the desire – to get along with one another when we disagree. I remember in High School – my best friend and I would determine which side of that day’s topic we would be on in Sunday School. I think it drove our teacher crazy at times – to hear our strong debate on issues. The pastor’s son often taking the wrong side of issues probably had him talking to my dad at times (dad mentioned this – and I explained it to him – he laughed and told me it was OK). We learned to debate – to discuss – to take the other side on issues – and better understand other people’s view on things. Today – it seems – if we don’t agree with someone – we simply call them names or try to discredit them (not their view).

It seems hard to love one another these days. For example – we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. John 14:15 I must admit – some people – I can only love thru Christ. That’s ok – I’m sure I’m not lovable to everyone either – but – thru Christ – we can love everyone! At the very least – we can show God’s love to everyone – and get away from the hatred and name calling and belittling that is so prevalent today. This election season we could all do with more love for one another.

It seems hard to love one another these days. For example – Kanye West shared that he had a real experience with Jesus and came out with a new album (Jesus Is King – I’m listening to it right now as I type this devotional). Instead of giving God praise for the life transformation Kanye proclaims – many people on all sides of the theological isle are picking him apart. Does his conversion need to match our experience for us to show him some love?

It seems hard to love one another these days – it really is! But – with God – we can do so – really we can! Pray for those you dislike or disagree with and see what God might do to your heart!

Just something for us to think about today as we go on our way.