No Fear - Love

No Fear - Love

 

The other day I visited the post office.

It was a dark and stormy night.

What do those statements have in common you say?

Well, they could be the opening of a creepy novel. At least they can now in the lovely and weird world of COVID 19.

My normally cheerful and chatty postal clerk has turned into a self-protective, fully masked, gloved, and rude germaphobe encased in plexiglass in a darkened post office with red crosses on the floor.

Yikes!

Stay home, save lives – unless you’re an essential employee – or are still looking for toilet paper, hand sanitizer, Lysol, and Clorox wipes.

Now my default setting doesn’t tend toward fear – I lean toward anger – not much better.

So, I was irritated by the behavior of my postal clerk – irritated by having to wait to get into the store and finding shelves still empty, irritated when folks swerve out of my way like I’m a card carrying plague bearer, irritated that parks and playgrounds are closed in case folks don’t understand what social distancing means, irritated by mixed and/or false messages, government overreach, economic destruction, the unknown…

Is anyone else irritated, or is it just me?

It occurred to me in my sourness of spirit, that my formerly cheerful and chatty postal worker was afraid - that a good many people are afraid. Some are depressed, some are lonely, and some – like me - are irritated.

What to do?

Last time I wrote about Colossians 3:12-13 – So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

All those beautiful qualities – qualities that should describe Jesus followers – are not things we practice in isolation. These things are reflected in personal relationships – and for most of us the amount of personal relationships we are engaging in at the moment has been severely curtailed.

However, we can still practice these with our housemates, if we have any - and with the masked stranger that can’t see us smile – and with any we strive to keep in contact with via telephone and internet.

It may be harder – but more necessary than ever.

The above verses are followed by this one – Beyond all these things put on love which is the perfect bond of unity (Colossians 3:14).

Beyond compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and forgiveness put on love.

Wrap yourself up in it – tie all those other qualities together with it.

Love gets preeminence – because it is what brings unity.

Jesus started it – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

Paul defined it – Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous, love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a).

Peter affirmed it – Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins (1Peter 4:8).

And John wraps it up – Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:7-11).

And most profoundly for the situation we all find ourselves in – There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

What is going on now – what will be – We can be irritated or scared or depressed – or we can choose to trust Him and love our neighbor.

We love because, He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

And this is the commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also (1 John 4:18-21).

There is a lot of opportunity to love right now –

Who can you love today?