Who do you Love?

In a moment a person, upon realizing that they are lost and undone (all have sinned) and that Jesus shed his innocent blood on calvarys cross to pay for their sin (regardless of how nasty or how ungodly they've been,) will ask him to forgive them and to save them from eternal death. In a moment, their name is written down in glory and they escape the hell bound train. Each one of us who have been born again had a day where we woke up that morning lost and undone and went to bed a new creature in Christ Jesus. When you truly turn to him, you will be different; your desires will start to change and your attitude will begin to transform into his image. This takes a lifetime of putting to death the old man and striving to be more Christlike each day. (If you truly have given your heart to him you will want to live for him.) I think that sometimes, one of the hardest things is the second great commandment that Jesus gave us. Matthew 22:37-40 reads "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." In other words we have to love those around us regardless of how nasty some of them might be or what kind of a contrary demeanor they may have. (Remember NONE of us deserve eternal life.) Do you remember the incident with Andrea Yates? This is a lady in Houston who systematically drowned her five children in a bathtub; an unbelievably wicked act to be sure. You may also remember that her husband forgave her before the press. This seemed to cause almost as much uproar as the crime itself. I don't know of the mans background, but that's how we have to be. You can't do it in your own power. That's a supernatural power; to forgive someone who has robbed you and others of so much. I praise God that he'll not allow us to be tempted above what we are able because that would be unimaginably hard. We all love our families very dearly as this is natural affection. (If you don't love them there's a very serious problem in your heart.) But to forgive someone after such a situation would take the love of God in us. I know that in the given example, the two people had been married and that probably played a role in this situation. Just suppose that a complete stranger with a history of like behavior was involved. How would you react then? I'm asking myself on this because it would be a very trying situation. This is a hard thing to think on and yet Jesus said that if we don't forgive men their tresspasses, our Father won't forgive us ours. Regardless of the circumstances, we cannot hold on to unforgiveness. I pray that none of us would have to go through such an ordeal. We tend to catagorize sin, and indeed taking a life is more serious than calling in sick when we're not, but all sin is sin. (And telling a lie is sin, regardless of how small it may seem.) First John 1:-8-9 states "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." If you're feeling like you've done so many vile things that you can't be saved, Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He came to call all; whosoever will , to repentance. As christians, we spend a lifetime learning to forgive others; to just "let it go" when someone rubs us the wrong way. The world looks at such an attitude as "wimpy" but such is not the case. It's easy to retaliate; "to get even" with someone when they've ill-treated you. A quick glance into your local bar and you'll see all kinds of scores being settled. (What are you looking at?) That takes absolutly no self control whatsoever; just a couple of beers to get loosened up. But to forgive and forget (because there's no such thing as "I'll forgive but I won't forget") takes the love of Christ. One time in Virginia, a couple of guys took advantage of my then lack of street smarts and "separated me from my supply of cash." I had to wrestle with my attitude for some time but forgave them and I pray that today they are saved. Total love void of selfish conditions is crucial and today more than ever, this world needs the love of Jesus. Remember the old song "You're the only Jesus some may ever see." (there's a few posts right there) As we draw increasingly nearer to our Savior we'll increasingly see them through his eyes. To look past the demeanor and see the eternal soul in desperate need of a Savior. In other words, they're just like you in me.