How good are you at building walls? What kind do you like to build? Those with a fortified permanence? Or are you more of a builder that would really rather have your walls stormed and smashed to rubble?
I recently attended a youth retreat that I was asked to be a counselor at, and I am so grateful that I was lead there. During the very last session, the speaker shared about how a friend of his (also a parishioner of his church) came into his life carrying the diagnosis of a virulent form of cancer. Death truly was imminent for this man. It wasn't the point of the speaker's address, but the words in that half hour that stood out most to me were centered on his duties as a pastor to his flock that were in direct conjunction to our Father's "duties" towards His followers. The speaker talked about how, as a pastor, he is continually called to engage in and pursue relationships with people that may either hurt him or are on the brink of death (the loss of that person would also lead to an obvious pain and grief). That doesn't mean he is to shirk those relationships. No, he's to continue to love and open up to those people regardless of the personal cost. Similarly, we are constantly sinning. And sin is why Christ bled and died for us...He died to remove that from us, to forgive us, to make us new and clean. He did it because He loves us in this crazy, unfathomable, unconditional way. This He does for us freely, and yet we continue on in our sin. This causes our Savior, our Redeemer, the Lover of our souls deep pain. What if you were to sacrifice everything for someone, only to have them abandon you? To mistrust you and abuse your sacrifice? We all know in our hearts how that would make us feel. And most of us would give up on that person that took us for granted. We would walk away because we can't let ourselves get walked on or continually hurt. It's too much to handle. We deserve better. Or how about this one? God wants us to be happy. But is that what Jesus does? Is that what He expects of us? I don't believe that it is. God is love. And love is this incredible, powerful gift that we're given by Him and given to share on behalf of Him. But He never says that love is easy. "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." You can read this from it's source in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. For those of you that are so familiar with the verses that you skimmed right over them, please pause, rewind, and re-read. Soak in the truths offered by Scripture. We are called to that sort of love. A love that is willing to lay down all facets of self for the good of the beloved. This is a difficult calling when our sin nature clamors for our attention, demanding us to take into consideration our own feelings. We build walls against the people we love because we've been hurt and don't want to endure that again...and again and again and again.
This is wrong. Walls are a tool of division, and we are never to be divided. We are to remain in unity, at all costs. This may mean that we go through a lot of pain, and that's awful. But for the joy set before Him, Christ endured pain of an infinitely greater magnitude. We are to mirror that. Love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). Remember that beloved. I'm not saying we should submit ourselves to abusive situations. By all means, run from and seek shelter from that. What I am saying is to measure every action and reaction in the light of selfless love. There is never a situation that merits us to choose the opposite. Never. So the next time you find yourself picking up those bricks and slapping on that mortar, take a step back, set down those tools of destruction, and find a way to love.
