Love your neighbor as ________.

Matthew 22:39
We know the words.
We know them well.

Love your neighbor
as yourself.

Love your neighbor?
But,
what if...?

Yes.
Our
what ifs
seem to be a stumbling block.

What if our neighbor
is not lovable?

(My neighbor just yelled
at me and called me a ____.
I'm finding it hard to love
her this week.
But I still can't get
away from Jesus' words!)

What if ?
Indeed,
what if?

As Christians...
Do our "what ifs"
in life
give us the freedom
to ignore what Jesus
has commanded?

This is the only
thing Jesus commanded....
and we still have
the nerve to
ask
What if?

We want off the hook Jesus!
We want our "what ifs"
to trump
what you see,
what you hear,
what you feel,
who you love.

The real what if
in this story
is...
what if we can't love
ourselves?

If we can't
love ourselves...
then we can't
love our neighbor.

If we can't look in the mirror
and see what God sees,
and love who God loves...
then we cannot love
ourselves
or
our neighbor.

Perhaps this is the root
problem in the church
today.

We can't look in the mirror
and see what God sees,
and love who God loves.

The 219th General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
will soon assemble.
I pray for mirrors.
I pray the delegates
look into the mirrors
and see what God sees
and love who God loves.

Look in the mirror
and claim love for
yourselves....
because
our neighbors are
depending on it!