Unshackled

1 John 4:7-21
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only 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 atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.

No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.

So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us.

Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.

The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

Have you ever felt immediately uncomfortable in the presence of another person? We don't always "gel" with others....sometimes we are more like oil and water.
I'm not talking about the kind of discomfort that erupts when somebody is openly offending you or encroaching upon your space. I'm talking about the quality of discomfort that simply swells from within in the presence of the "unknown".

Each day we are blessed (or challenged) by the opportunity to lean beyond the comfort of our familiar relationships and learn about somebody new to our heart. Yes...I mean that -- new to our heart.

I don't get to KNOW everybody who intersects my path. There will be many who I miss because they are doing or saying something that generates sparks of resistance rather than attraction. I may not be able to engage in conversation to learn the details of their situation,and therefore discover something that will soothe my "fear".

However, I can extend to them a loving gaze...a peaceful gesture...and a prayer of blessing upon their day. In fact, that is precisely what I am called to do!

Look at the reading for this week from 1John. How many times do you see the word "love" in that reading? Love one another...love all in all that you encounter...love because you are loved...in fact, the reason that you experience any notion of "love" in any form is, quite simply, because you are loved by God.

When you meet somebody who makes you feel a bit uncomfortable or awkward, remember the love of God embedded in your heart. That love bursts from your heart and spills forth. It can soothe the fears percolating from whatever judgement that your mind is making about a particular person or group of people.

Remember, your assessment is limited. But your fallible assessment can draw lines of demarcation between you and others that shackle your potential to love...to serve through words and deeds that reveal to the "others" that they, too, are loved by God. You may fear others who seem different from you...but God's perfection promises to cast out that fear.

Resting in the knowledge of God's love for YOU, you are free...unshackled...so that you may love others.