From the Pastor’s Heart OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
If you are as I am, you might be frustrated to reading or turning on the news or social media these days just to see or hear the amount of self-hatred and hatred of one another that is about you.
Your heart must be aching when you see children crying because of the abuse that they have received from their parents. Some of you might even be shocked to see the number of public characters sobbing as they are rehearsing their stories of how they have been treated by neighbors who disagree with their point of view.
You might be questioning why so many public servants are resigning their positions because they are tired of the harassment. You might be wondering why so many ministers of the gospel are resigning from their positions, claiming burn out. And you might be wondering why so many people are saying that they are sick and tired of the harassment being used to destroy their families.
Finally, you might be asking, “What has happened to ‘The Love Community’ of which Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed and which Jesus commanded his disciples to build?
I do not know that I have to or need to state all the answers here, but let me offer the following five suggestions with brief reflections based on the Bible.
1. Jesus predicted the loss of love
Do I need to say that what was predicted concerning the coldness of human hearts is right on target? Jesus said, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Take a moment to consider the evils that are being perpetrated in our society at the moment. Look at the many ways in which conspiracy theories are being used for destruction. Think of all the money spent to create instruments of warfare to destroy one another. If you are watching carefully, you have to say that we have reached a depth of evil in our society, such has never been. Can we get more hateful, than we are at the moment?
2. The failure to obey the commandments of Jesus Christ
How many people today are living in obedience to the commandments of Jesus Christ to love? I am not asking that you lay judgment on anyone, but that you do a self-evaluation. As you have to deal with the meanness about you as Jesus had to do, are you following Jesus’ example to love yourself, your neighbor and your enemy? Jesus told this to his disciples “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34). “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)
3. Failure to make love a priority
We are so engaged in securing ourselves that we hardly have time to love one another. If it is true that a woman was being raped on a train a few weeks ago, and no one intervened, then you know that self-preservation has become people’s main motivation for action rather than love to one another. While sometimes people might give away little things to those about us, but we need to ask ourselves how much are they feeling our empathy and compassion, yet there is more fear then love in our relationships to one another? How much are we making love a priority in all that we are doing? How do those around us sense our meanness? How much are we truly loving from our hearts? How much are people feeling the love of God in what we are doing? The apostle Paul says, “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:3 NIV).
4. Failure to encourage one another to love
Love is to be encouraged. If we spend most of our time spewing hate, talking about our dislikes, and reflecting on the meanness in society, we will never encourage love. The author of Hebrews recognized the lack of love, even in the Hebrew Christian community he served and advised, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:23-25)
5. Failure to maintain our first love
Let us remember that love that is planted in the heart must be nurtured, continually. This is true personally and in every aspect of relationship in which we are involved. Ask any successful marital partner, what has kept the romance and intimacy alive? They will tell you that they engage in a daily work of love renewal. We need to check ourselves on any resentment being built up along the way in our relationships because of the bruises that we might receive. As the apostle John ministered to one of his congregations, he must have noted the growing conflict among the membership when he reminded them of the message of Christ to them, “But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love.” (Revelation 2:4).
Here is one point that I add to all of the above as a conclusion: We cannot have love in our hearts if we do not have the Spirit of God. This is what the apostle Paul said, “The love of God is spread in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.” (Romans 5:5)
How much are you open to the Spirit? How much are you open to love?
