The love for equals is a human
thing–of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and
lovely. The world smiles. The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful
thing–the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the
failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the
world. The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing–to love those who
succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love
of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is
always bewildered by its saints. And
then there is the love for the enemy–love for the one who does not love you but
mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This
is God’s love. It conquers the world.
From The Magnificent Defeat
by Frederick Buechner
God has a specific purpose that he
wants all of us to seek and strive for.
In 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 Paul writes:
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same
Spirit. There are different kinds of
service, but the same Lord. There are
different kinds of working, but the Same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the
Spirit is given for the common good.”
God has
given us all very specific gifts for the purpose of doing what he has called each
of us to specifically do for His Kingdom. That fact has always been present in my life
and it has been the number one thing I have always wanted to do and
fulfill.
However, over the last few years if there is anything I
have learned: I have learned that I was made for love. I am much more
aware now than ever before that the FIRST & MOST important calling that God has placed upon ALL
our lives is to LOVE and love unconditionally. Jesus tells us in Matthew
22:37-40 that the greatest commandment of all is “Love the Lord with ALL your
heart, soul, and mind. And the second is
love your neighbors as much as and more than you love yourself” (my
paraphrase). To love God and love others
(meaning ALL people) IS the greatest calling we have as Christians,
period. It’s not about denominations, programming,
style of music, traditions, income, hopes, dreams, or anything else that WE
think is important. Life is about loving
God and loving all people: rich, poor, fortunate, unfortunate, ally, enemy, etc;
it makes no difference. Love God and
Love Others; THAT is why we do what we do, because that is the action that will
truly change the world, or as Buechner puts it “conquer the world.”
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