1 John 4:7, 11
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
I have been studying the Bible and am amazed by the message of Love that is written within its pages. Yet, in having lived for more than a half century now I am equally amazed by how we as a species we fail at the most simplest of lessons from the Bible, the ability to get along with one another. To me that has to be one of the biggest disappointments that God must have in his creation. With the ability to learn and create great things we have yet to learn to accept each other and to Love Thy Neighbor as Thy self. Why do we feel compelled to gauge our success of being good Christians by smiting other religions or people without religion in their lives. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and live for a relationship with God. But it doesn’t occur to me that in order for me to be successful at that relationship that I have to hate those who do not feel the same. God gave man freewill and in doing so has put a path in place for man to return to his side. Other religions have been developed over the years as has Christianity and those that follow those paths believe deeply in what they have been taught. I’m not saying that all Christians fail at getting along, in fact, in every religion there are zealots that interweave their own agenda within the peaceful teachings of their faith.
Why then…….and at what cost will we ever come together as God intended? I know that this is not a question that can or will be answered within my life time, but I hope at some point a generation is born that realizes that we are all in this together. There will come a time that if we do not stand as one, we will be faced with annihilation. Maybe that will be the end days maybe it will be something totally unexpected.
I pray for the day when God looks at the way that we treat each other and smiles.
