You Can't Give What You Don't Have

Why are human beings so thoroughly capable of being so nasty toward one another? Road rage...hateful, hurtful comments fired out over the Internet...trampling each other in stores on Black Friday...and on and on it goes. And why does this capability extend toward and even intensify with those with whom we are supposed to be closest? Some say it's because basically we are evil creatures. Others say Satan, the enemy of God makes us this way. We pastors will go on and on about a theological idea known as "Original Sin," the explanation of which leaves most intelligent people in a fog. I think it's simply this - some folks in the Missouri Ozarks used to say, "Ya cain't give whatcha ain't got!" People who don't get love, who don't receive love regularly, have a hard time giving love. Now before the more conservative ones among say this is just liberal coddling, let me quickly say that I'm not talking about sentimental, sweetsy, Hallmark card love; the kind of love that feels all wonderful, but evaporates as soon as the going gets tough. I'm talking about a very particular kind of love. The Greek language of the first century called this agape - completely self-sacrificing, other-focused love. This kind of love is way beyond all the "it's-all-about-me" forms of love that saturate our ears, eyes, and atmospheres every day. By itself, the world knows nothing of agape kind of love. It comes from God or it does not come at all.

A Jesus-follower named John describes it as follows: "This is the kind of love we are talking about-not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this we certainly ought to love each other." (I John 4:10-11, The Message.) This is the love we need to receive, in order to give the love which is needed. It is not a concept or a feeling, it is a choice and an act. It does not start with us; it starts with God. We have to be receivers so that we can be givers.

So now we have a choice. We can choose to believe that this is all true and live as if it is true. Or we can ignore it, reshape it to suit our self-focused needs, or water it down. Then we can go ahead and follow the idea that love is personal pleasure, love is attention paid to us, love is for only those who are like us, love is a feeling, and all the other horse manure into which we step.

So what's your choice? I'll see you around the next bend in the river, which is getting a light skiff of snow on it today.