Love each other

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.”      ~John 15:16-17, NIV
 
When daylight saving time ended at 2:00 AM on November 1, 2020 and all of us had an extra hour to spare, some folks quipped that it was an additional hour in this year that they would rather do without! It’s been a tremendously difficult time for us all. I wrote some time back in these pages that 2020, a challenging season of pandemic and unrest, could well go down as our Year of Living Dangerously. With COVID infections again on the rise in the US, it looks like things aren’t going to improve anytime soon.

​And as if things haven’t been difficult enough, the US Presidential Election and its potentially troubled aftermath could prove an additional strain. For some of us, its projected result vindicated our choice; for others of us, it did not go the way we’d hoped. But whether we voted blue or red on November 3 really isn’t the point. Unity and love in the Spirit amid difference and diversity is what counts! We may recall the Lord Jesus saw fit to include a tax collector and a nationalist zealot, the quintessential embodiments of “pro-” and “anti-” Establishment in first-century Palestine respectively, within his Dream Team. Can you imagine the violent political disagreements those 2 guys – Matthew the IRS agent and Simon the AR15-toting radical – might’ve had, only to break bread together, bear each other’s burdens, and lay down their lives for one another? If Jesus called and chose them, and Matthew and Simon loved on one another as brothers in Christ and had each other’s backs, then surely our Lord will most certainly welcome a dash of red and blue – as well as white, black, brown, and yellow – in His kingdom!
 
But it’s probably safe to say the election has deepened, not healed, the social and political divisiveness highlighted during this annus horribilis (disastrous or unfortunate year). We are left wrestling with anxiety and uncertainty. The Apostle Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (NIV). God enjoins us to participate in a divine exchange. On our part, we give to Him – by prayer, petition, and thanksgiving – our anxieties and worries. On His part, He gives us His peace that keeps our hearts and minds fixed on Him!
 
Indeed, Jesus guarantees us His peace even BEFORE we seek for it: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid… In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 14:27; 16:33, NIV). Beloved, let’s ask for God’s peace in the full confidence that He will surely provide that which we so desperately need!
 
In his magnum opus The City of God, St. Augustine argued that Christianity wasn’t responsible for the collapse of Rome, as pagan critics had alleged, but was in fact the reason why that earthly empire flourished in the first place. But more crucially, Augustine’s main point was that despite Christianity’s designation as the official religion of the Pax Romana, the real City of God wasn’t Rome, nor any other earthly city or country for that matter. Rather, it refers to the Heavenly City, the New Jerusalem, whose citizens forgo earthly pleasures and dedicate themselves to King Jesus and the eternal truths of God in Scripture. As the author of Hebrews has it, “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14, NIV).
 
Augustine reminded his readers that heaven isn’t a place on earth, certainly not the Roman Empire as many early Christians had presumed and even celebrated – only to lament later when Rome collapsed in 410 A.D. You and I are not citizens of an earthly kingdom or nation-state, so far as our Christianity is concerned. Rather, we are spiritual citizens of God’s Kingdom where Jesus reigns as King. Whatever our political or ideological stripes, our ultimate affection and allegiance are not worldly but heavenly: It’s Christ and He alone who deserves our complete love and loyalty!
 
Beloved, more than anything else, it’s doubly crucial, when pandemic and politics are threatening to tear this nation apart, that we need to rise up and point folks to Christ – not just the students we minister to but also our family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, etc. In John 15:16, the Lord Jesus reminds us He has chosen and appointed you and I – with our different strokes and stripes – to go and bear lasting fruit in His Name. And the way we accomplish that is by loving each other (John 15:17)!