Fear
Read Deuteronomy 10:12-22.
I think we've got it backwards.
From ancient times, God's people were told to take care of the foreigner, the stranger, the one who didn't seem like they belonged. The reason they were told this is because they, too, had once been the people who didn't belong. Several times, in fact. Abraham had sojourned in Egypt twice, and his descendant Joseph eventually was the reason the entire nation moved to Egypt. In those experiences, God wanted the people to learn what it was like to be on the outside, and to learn to treat others who were "outside" with kindness and respect. And, Moses told them, they were to do this so as to show fear of the Lord.
That's the part we've gotten all messed up. We claim to love God but then we "fear" the stranger. Or we treat them as if they should fear us. (In reality, that's just our fear being reflected back on the other person.) We move out of a city, or a neighborhood, or even off of a street because "those people who aren't like us" have moved in. We shun others because we don't understand them. It's not until we see the worst extreme—rallies that show racism and hatred for the ugly beasts they are—that we realize what we have done. But it's because we've gotten it backwards. We fear the other and still claim to love God.
God says one way we show that our relationship to him is strong and rooted in love, respect and awe/fear is to love the stranger, the foreigner, the outcast in our midst. Somehow we missed the clear and obvious message of 1 John 4:20: "Whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen."
I think we've got it backwards.
From ancient times, God's people were told to take care of the foreigner, the stranger, the one who didn't seem like they belonged. The reason they were told this is because they, too, had once been the people who didn't belong. Several times, in fact. Abraham had sojourned in Egypt twice, and his descendant Joseph eventually was the reason the entire nation moved to Egypt. In those experiences, God wanted the people to learn what it was like to be on the outside, and to learn to treat others who were "outside" with kindness and respect. And, Moses told them, they were to do this so as to show fear of the Lord.
That's the part we've gotten all messed up. We claim to love God but then we "fear" the stranger. Or we treat them as if they should fear us. (In reality, that's just our fear being reflected back on the other person.) We move out of a city, or a neighborhood, or even off of a street because "those people who aren't like us" have moved in. We shun others because we don't understand them. It's not until we see the worst extreme—rallies that show racism and hatred for the ugly beasts they are—that we realize what we have done. But it's because we've gotten it backwards. We fear the other and still claim to love God.
God says one way we show that our relationship to him is strong and rooted in love, respect and awe/fear is to love the stranger, the foreigner, the outcast in our midst. Somehow we missed the clear and obvious message of 1 John 4:20: "Whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen."
Can we get this straightened out? Can we learn to love the other and fear God? What will be your first step?
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