Speaking of Jesus…
who do you love?
 

So much is said of what we are to do today.
The enemy here, the enemy there, the enemy at the gate.
Be careful!
Be cautious!
Be watchful!
Be vigilant!
Be ready! 
Be ready for what? To do what?
More violence? When will it end… only life in the Kingdom resolves it…

Cain killing Able… a brother destroys his own brother’s life…
That’s when it began… sin; separation from God brought death…
first in the form of murder!
You will find yourself on a never-ending course in trying to decipher why.
Yet men in seeking such knowledge shall endeavor blindly into the abyss. 
The first death as a result of sin/separation from love comes at the hands of man, not God. Separation from God is death... and abiding in that lovelessness brings us to violence and murder.

“A man’s head was severed recently… blind hate rules” the work of ungodly men.
Why so graphic, to have us cast aside the banner of love, to cause you to hate… as they hate and to justify it.
This is the battle to cause us to surrender Jesus, to surrender eternal love, for temporal revenge. 
Violence is not new. And evil will not go away, because we don’t like it.
It is not obscure… it is down the street; it is in town, it is right next-door...
maybe soon to appear in your own home. 
It is only over come by selfless sacrificial love.

Jesus came to change the hearts of those that hear His call and follow, Him.
That call is “I love you”…
as you are where you are, unconditionally.
What ever you have thought, what ever you have done… “I forgive you!”
Come follow me… and as you follow pray…
And forgive us our of our non-loving actions,
as we forgive those who act unloving toward us…
for you feed us, as you taught us to ask, deliver us, for not yielding to our selfishness,
for the love in us is eternal, it is the power of your glory… alive in us!
To love is difficult at best… for so few actually do follow. They have not received…
or have returned to their self-love.
To love the loveless… those who don’t respond when loved is indeed discouraging.
But we are forgiven… we must forgive! Or not be forgiven.
We are to love those who wish to do violence to us and to our families and friends.
We are to love our enemies! Each one, all…
We are to pray for them… we are to do good to them. Good to them…always…
Jesus died loving those who hated Him.
And so we are called to follow Jesus…
Martyrs are not those who just die for Christ.
Martyrs, like Jesus, die loving those who are destroying them…
Forgiving even in the last breath…
In Jesus we have come past just being right or in so many words, doing what is right.
We are in the motive and the motive is in us…
Eternal love reigns.
In Christ we know who we are because we know Him as He is.
And He is love…
Who do you love?...
enough to die for?

Jesus Christ’s Community at Hebron

 www.jesuschrists.com