Shame and Grace VII

I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

 - From John 15

Commandments. Why do we need them, if we are already okay? And why would there be a set of commandments that were only challenging for some of us, but not others? We all die. Therefore, we are not okay, and therefore we all need commandments. They help us clarify where we are missing the mark. And death is proof that we keep missing the mark.

Commandment are linked with love. Christ's love is coupled with purity, unselfishness, holiness. Unfortunately (maybe fortunately) we are able to look at others and see clearly, where they miss the mark. That might be okay, as long as we let others point out our shortcomings, to us. 

So that is we are commanded to love one another . . . which is hard enough, the so too, may we be commanded to live temperately, soberly . . . which is hard, but not as hard as loving as Christ does. We can lay our lives down for our spouses, and be totally unselfish so that our marriages might last . . . and that would be hard, but not as hard as loving as Christ does. But if we loved as Christ does, our marriages would not fail at such a rate.

If Christ expected us to pure, as He is . . . then that may be hard. But it's not as hard as loving as He does. 

Our behavior on line; the way we choose sides and gang up . . . there's not a bit of Christ in that. You must be willing to stand alone. I'll go back to the Trump scenario. You can hate him all you want . . . but Christ does not hate Him. Let's say you're given a pass, which permits you to hate Trump. Then by extension you will be hating people that voted for him, as well. And you have failed the test, missed the mark, once again. Christ loves us all. All of us. And we are commanded to love as He does. 

And the same goes for people that hated Obama. 

We have to cool it. Loving as Christ does may be hard. But it's good for your blood pressure.