FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2020 - LOVE WINS DAY!!!

 FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2020 - LOVE WINS DAY!!!

What does that mean?  Love wins “day” - shouldn’t every day be a day that love wins?  

Sure, every day is a ‘LOVE WINS’ day.  Most religious organizations have one day a week for corporate worship.  My Jewish friends have the Sabbath; my Christian friends have Sunday.  So, why not have a day on my daily blog that highlights LOVE?

Let’s contrast love and hate today.

LOVE:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law.

HATE (or Evil):

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.

(Bible Galatians chapter 5)

If you had to choose today - of being loving, joyful, peaceful - or being adulterous, unclean, or hated.  I’d hope you would choose LOVE!!  

AND …. The “Keystone” of Love:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Yes, sometimes evil and hatred look so good.  

This election year, I found hate speech on both sides.  What maybe has gotten to me, is the lack of love when dealing with others.   A statement by Evelyn Beatrice Hall, (although attributed to the French philosopher Voltaire says “ "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".  

We can agree to disagree.  We can have multiple views on topics.  As I look within my faith heritage, there are at least three main Jewish schools of thought - orthodox, conservative, liberal; there are way-to-many Christian thoughts - Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Nazarene, and more.  If we include those that some put as “quasi-Christian” - Jehovah’s Witnesses, Latter-day Saints, and others - there are many thoughts on faith.  But, we must not hate.  

On Wednesday, a group of protesters to the election, stormed the Capitol Building - even breaking windows and entering. All to protest that their candidate was “cheated” in the election.  There have been oodles of lawsuits and inquiries - recounts, validation, and yet, the candidate still insists he was “cheated”.  Will this continue?  Will we see protests over the next four years because of this election?

Ironically, with the Black Lives Matter protests this summer, some people supported the police with “Blue Lives Matter”.  Some of the protesters on Wednesday stormed past police while wearing buttons that say “Blue Lives Matter”. 

Recently a person of a particular background burned a Black Lives Matter display at a District of Columbia church.  Why would one ‘trespass’ on church property to burn a display at that facility?

Likewise, there were reports of signs for candidate A and for candidate B being stolen from lawns or defaced.  Even if I don’t agree with your candidate, I am still mandated to LOVE.  I am to love all people - <PERIOD>!!!  

I am not perfect.  There are times I would rather say something negative about somebody (and I have said such things).  But, I keep working on it.

From James 3:5-8

“Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

[...] “but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

I grew up with the concept, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”.  But, I have strayed from that over the years and now I want to make my words positive and pleasant.

First of all, I ask you to pray for all men and to give thanks for them. Pray for kings and all others who are in power over us so we might live quiet God-like lives in peace. (1 Timothy 2;1-2)

So, back to the start of the day:

LOVE:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law.

And to the words from 1 Corinthians 13, “Love is patient, love is kind.”

Let’s be kind to one another.  We can disagree without being disagreeable!!

LOVE WINS!!

HUGS!!!

Karen