Christ’s command to love one another means that we respect people, whether they agree with us or not. It means being a decent human being and being polite and courteous to others. It means demonstrating the grace we have received to everybody we meet, and realizing that they have just as much a right to be who they are as we have to be who we are.
In other words, don’t be a jerk. You gain nothing by that. Treat others with the same respect that you want to be treated with, no matter what. It might be reciprocated. It probably won’t in some cases, but living by faith isn’t about what you receive. It’s about doing what’s right because it is right and you want to shine the light of good on the world, and that’s reason enough. Walking the walk is the most powerful testimony you have. Remember, people are influenced by the actions they see; not the words they hear. Everybody’s talking. Not everybody is doing. You can’t expect people to embrace joy if you’re griping and complaining all the time.
Where there’s life, there’s hope, and where hope is, grace abounds. The end times haven’t come yet, so there’s still an unlimited amount of grace to go around in this old world. There’s grace for you. There’s grace for me. There’s grace for everybody! Let’s live in the joy of that grace.
See, Christians aren’t the stuffy, tight lipped, Bible-toting, hard nosed, closed minded morons that you expected. We live in this world one day at a time, just like you do. We even have a unique personality and quirks just like everybody else. We’re still human beings, and we certainly aren’t better than anybody else. All that really makes us different from the rest of the world is where we lay our foundation. Everybody is rooted in something, and our foundation is Christ. What’s yours?
I hope you’ve enjoyed this wild ride through inspiration from somebody that by all rights, should have probably kept it to herself. What can I say? I’m a writer. I guess the extrovert in me won out this time. Now I shall retreat back to the introvert and work on my next novel. Stay tuned. It’s a humdinger.
Grace, peace, and joy to you, now and every day! I’ll see you on social media, my blog, and in my next publication.
Cheers!