Sometimes we are called to rise to the occasion. Globally, this is happening right now.
I know, I know…The people – the Syrian refugees – are far away. They are not walking our roads in search of food, shelter, and new lives. So it’s easy to ignore them. Or even to think one can justify contemptuous feelings when a tiny, tiny minority of them have refused help because it came in packages marked with red crosses.
But – when we choose not to turn the TV off. Or when we choose to take a good, long look at the videos. And at the heartbreaking photographs. And when we sit still long enough to listen to the whisper inside, we know that we are being called.
Jesus told us:
I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. – John 13: 34-35
Easy? Hardly. Notice that He didn’t give us a choice about who to love. We are told to love everyone.
And for many of us, loving like Christ goes something like this:
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” – G. K. Chesterton
What did Jesus say again? Put into simplest terms: They will know you are Christians when you love like I do.
Can I love like He does? Only with His help. And that’s a challenge – even on my ‘best’ days. But He didn’t say, “Here’s a suggestion.” He said, “I give you a new commandment.” So my question should only be – ‘How will I obey?’
Could this be the world’s holy moment? I think so. A moment we are being asked to rise to perform acts of sacred love. Acts set apart from the norm. Acts of real love – that is, selfless love. Defined by the fact that they demand no thanks.
Watch this.