Who is Worthy of Love?

I've been reading Jesus' words in Luke. In chapter 10, his account of the Good Samaritan is really addressing the question of "who is worthy of love." This is something we all, consciously or unconsciously, decide and our attitude on giving love has a lot to say about our perception of God and His love.

In chapter 10 lawyer starts it by asking: "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (which, as his first question, like most Christians in some part of their journey, is motivated by salvation of self, and sometimes fear of not obtaining that more than love for God) and Jesus answers with his own question: "What is written in the law? how readest thou?"
 The lawyer answered: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself...But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, "And who is my neighbour?" 
Which, in context, is really asking, 'who is worth loving as much as myself?' Jesus tells him the parable of the good Samaritan and then asks him in response: "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?" and in verse 37 everything gets answered by getting flipped around:  "And he said, 'He that shewed mercy on him.'  Then said Jesus unto him, 'Go, and do thou likewise.'"

It seems to me that Jesus is saying "You're asking the wrong question... it's not who is worthy of receiving love, but how much are you willing to give mercy and love yourself." This puts things into a different perspective. Now we are not trying to judge others and whether they are worthy or not, but the emphasis is put on how far are WE willing to go and to grow in character regardless of another's perceived "worthiness" of that effort. Maybe another way to say it is that where the ruler asked "Who is my neighbor" Jesus rephrased it: "Who are you being a neighbor unto?" Perhaps we could say "who is NOT my neighbor?" Our love for God, our understanding of His love for us is demonstrated in how we love the people around us.

This is addressed in 1 John 4:20-21 also: "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also."

In the beginning of this same chapter Jesus is sending out disciples to heal and spread the news of his kingdom... but through His power, which comes from God. This is where love comes from as well and it seems to tie into the lawyer's question as we are asked to go beyond what is comfortable and, maybe beyond what is humanly possible sometimes, in showing love and mercy. We are reminded that first of all, no one, not even we, deserve love/mercy/neighborliness,  and second, we can't and don't have to do it on our own power.

^{1 John 4:11} "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. ¹² No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. ¹³ Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.^"

love without insurance

A fear-based religion sings this song:

"What if God is not happy with our praise
What if He is not pleased with the words we say
What if He takes away His love and His goodness from above
What if God is not happy with our praise."

I remember singing this in a choir ensemble and my mother objecting to the words. Her objections only make more sense the older I get. If this is the God we are serving, it isn't the one portrayed through the Bible, through Jesus. The basis for a God of love is not anything being earned by right actions, right words, (those come later, in response to that love.)

^{Luke 6:35} "But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. ³⁶ Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful."

  Love by nature is an overflowing, creating, giving thing. This love sought us out before we could love back, and without condition of "ONE DAY" having to give back, without insurance, loved us.

A love-based relationship sings something like this song:

"I know God loves me.
In the face of my failure, I rest in knowing 
that His love never fails...
And this makes me want to love Him in return."

Growing up hearing the words "God loves you" doesn't automatically translate into believing those words. Sometimes those are just words that bounce off of our consciousness and out into the never realized part of our brains... unless really felt and experienced.

Only recently have I, after a long time of not, felt like God loved me. Maybe it's from being separated from my emotions in order to survive from around the time of my miscarriage... maybe it's just that I'm flawed and expect Him to be like me, I don't know. I just know that I was lying in bed praying as I nursed my baby like I do when it's bedtime and for the first time in a long time I felt really loved by God. Does this mean I wasn't before? No. But it's reassuring to feel it sometimes.

Not long after this experience, I got my kids a scripture lullaby CD (volume 1 & 2) because they fall asleep better with music and I prefer the music to be uplifting, since music is easily remembered. As I was listening to the words, this really struck my heart: "You're not here by chance, you are My design, I did well to give you life" It reinforced the feeling of being loved, with something more. Sometimes I think I'm so imperfect that, yes, He loves, but surely with reservations and certainly He couldn't love me with pride! But He does. And it's humbling. And He wants us to love each other the same way He loves us... which, once experienced, makes you understand why.

Here is the scripture lullaby with it's references:

Psalm 139:14
"...I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, Andy my soul knows it very well." NASB

Psalm 23:6
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." NKJV

Genesis 1:27

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." NKJV

God's song to you, His child, His creation...

"Looking out into the night sky
A million stars shining down and
I can see how you'd feel so small
Don't forget I'm your Creator
You are Mine and I adore you
Nothing else moves my heart like you
You're not here by chance, you are My design
I did well to give you life

You are fearfully and wonderfully made
Long before you drew your first breath
I knew your name
Surely goodness and mercy
Will follow you forever
For you are fearfully and wonderfully made

Looking deep into your eyes
you're beautiful, like no one else
I smile when I think about your face
you were made in My own image
Carefully, My love would finish
Forming you into who you are
I won't let you go, I'm here with you always
I'll watch you grow strong because I know

You are fearfully and wonderfully made
Long before you drew your first breath
I knew your name
Surely goodness and mercy
Will follow you forever
For you are fearfully and wonderfully made"

Proverbs 12:22-23 "Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight. A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness."

I was born with a strong desire to please people. Self-sacrifice was many times worth it if I could get affirmation. This generally meant my parent's and teachers... thankfully I was sheltered and this trait was not exploited. As I grew, this sometimes meant that in order to please someone, the story I told them would be "tailored" to them. In the beginning stages of maturity, I didn't have the discernment to know how that could easily lead to lying. Eventually, I saw what I was doing as wrong and developed a strong desire for the truth in every area of my life, even when it was painful.

First, that meant that I just didn't talk in public as much. There are too many nuances and social expectations that multiply exponentially with each added person that challenge a dedication to truth if you have not developed that trait in the public arena. It's one thing to be brutally honest with yourself, but to keep that distinction in casual conversation is often easily construed to make you appear as if you think you are better than others, or cold and unfeeling... sometimes it's just better to keep quiet when you're trying to learn to speak only in truth.

Eventually, this meant that I became a better listener. I learned to more accurately see what someone was feeling and trying to say that their words weren't conveying. I realized that people have so much built up inside of them from trying to verbally prance through the social arena where frank speaking isn't exactly encouraged, and everyone seems to just be speaking at each other with few listening, that someone who would just listen to them would eventually let them get past the fluff and tell you what they really felt. This heightened my desire to say what was true to me and to speak what I knew with conviction.

I'm still an evolving truth speaker. I constantly come away from conversations with a pricked conscience and find myself repenting, yet again, for careless words. But I'm learning, and figuring out that the next step for me is not only speaking truth, but love. Looking at others through the black and white lens of only truth is disheartening and easily becomes judgmental.

Ephesians 4:14-16

"That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."

When I let love be the motivation behind the truth I am saying, it is a healing experience-sometimes for both of us. There will always be human error in every human gathering. My natural tendency is to isolate myself from people to minimize the room for error... and while I will never be the extrovert and will always need time for myself, I need people and God provides His grace for this. A verse that I have been clinging to that addresses this is 1 John 1:7.

"If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses every sin."