As a Christian and a Jew, it is our responsibility to love our neighbors as ourselves. Christ said that. So did the Lord God through Moses.
I have always believed that in order to love someone as you love yourself the first step would be to SEE that person as Christ SEES them. A nearly impossible task because, for most of us, we cannot read hearts, we cannot see a person’s life story, and we are stuck in our own heads which were formed by our own life’s events. So, in a way, the best lens we have to see one another is through our own unique life experiences. However, through Grace, God equips us with many opportunities to fight against our Earthly dispositions and to look/act upon the world with Heavenly fortitude. The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are:
Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord.
Through these Graces, we then can actually and realistically take up the cross of loving neighbor as our self. It is my prayer that as we continue to move towards Christ’s Second Coming that we entreat ourselves to building that promised New Heaven and New Earth here and now. In this time and in the times to come, we can SEE one another how God SEES us, perhaps not 100% consistently, but certainly little by little, step by step, act of Love by act of Love, brick by brick.
We can see our fellow brothers and sisters beyond superficialities like Race, Religion, Occupation, Sexual Orientation, Beauty, Economic Status, Age and all the other faculties that the Evil One has convinced us to believe separate us from one another.
Yesterday Riley played machine pitch baseball in a part of Arkansas that we have never been to. All three coaches were black. The team was probably half and half white and black. Most of these kids have never met each other before. They were just getting together to play a game of baseball. They played the game TOGETHER with no regard for skin color, economic status, or skill level. Nothing in the dugout seemed personally owned, but rather was the teams. I say this because the coaches provided shirts at no cost and Riley generously offered and shared his bat with a kid who did not have one. It’s a $250.00 bat that would be hard to swallow if it got damaged, but that wasn’t a concern or a consideration. (Nor should it be). These kids, who remember did not know each other, exhibited excellent sportsmanship – no one argued with the coaches, no one fought for a spot on the field, no one showed emotion for being in the bottom of the line-up. They just played baseball TOGETHER. The parents cheered on each kid for striking out or smacking the ball, making the play or fumbling the ball. The parents came from all sorts of backgrounds. We set aside our differences to participate TOGETHER in a game of baseball.
To be honest, this all was quite a beautiful sight…to see this game through the eyes of God.
In a very minimalistic way, we too are all playing a game. It’s not baseball. The game we are playing is called “Building the Kingdom of God.” This game can only be played well when we love our neighbor as our self, when we SEE each other as God SEES us, when we play the game TOGETHER! We play the game now in our present time and over time we lay the bricks which will build a Kingdom – the new Heaven and New Earth. In that time, as God says in Revelation, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them [as their God]. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, [for] the old order has passed away.” The one who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Revelation 21:3-5 NABRE
THIS is what we are building towards. THIS is the endgame. Personally, I am exciting about playing this game now and seeing how this game plays out.
God Bless You All!
BLM
Seeking Him 