Articles
Commanded to Love
What would we do if someone came up to us asking, “How can you treat another person with as much love and reverence as a family member? Even after knowing some of the wrongs they have committed, and even after hearing some degree of both sides to the story?” Should we want to know all the past wrong doings, all the pain, all the joy and everything from both sides? Should we want to both put ourselves in the middle and try to get both sides to see how the other half lives? Think on your answer and what you would do next in this scenario. Then think on Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
In truth this verse goes along with Paul’s reflection of his life toward the end of Philippians 1. He is struggling with the idea of continuing to live like Christ on Earth to spread His message and with the idea of letting go and joining Christ in Heaven. Having lived through this before at a time in my life when I was starting to know Christ better, I can tell you that to die in this situation is to gain. In baptism we are to let our old self die and put on Christ so that we can live like Christ (Romans 6:1-10). In turn, if we look at this verse through the context of baptism, as a new Christian we can see that in this situation we are supposed to let go of the worldly view of sides.
It does not matter what was done to who or who has made more “right” choices. This does not change what we are commanded to do in the first half of John 15, to love others as Christ has loved us. We are to put down our lives so that Christ may guide us in this situation. And in this situation, He would have us love both equally because God is the supreme Judge. Not only will he judge us on how we conduct ourselves with Christ, but he will judge those who are not of His body as well (Psalm 50:4-6, James 4:11-12).
Finally, we are to not put ourselves in the middle of this situation because it will only bring us pain. We cannot fix others' views by throwing ourselves in the mix, as noble as we may think it is. God and Christ are the ones who can change hearts and overcome the world as seen in John 16 and throughout the Old Testament. Let us love Christ with the power, wisdom, and Spirit of God as we deal with others of the world.
