This is something I have been reflecting upon for some time. What actually is the narrow gate and the difficult road? I wonder if it is mutual exclusivity of that which is commonplace in the world. If it really does mean we give all our belongings away. If it means we get to know and somehow come to love not only our enemies but those who annoy us. There is a vast difference between love and hate, but there is also a vast difference between not proactively loving and proactively loving someone. Perhaps the hard road is to love those around you, especially those who try your patience with every word they speak. Further, I think it also means not acting in violence. It is easy to become angry and defend yourself and make pointed accusations at the other person. It is easy to retaliate when someone hurts you physically, emotionally, etc. It is not easy to say nothing and then tell them you love them afterwords. This is something I fail so horribly at.
Also, I have stumbled across a great blog by a fellow CoCer! Thats Church of Christ for all of you out there who are not in the know. He seems to struggle with the same things I do, so it is good to know I am not alone in these things.
I thought about 9/11 the other day and realized I had a shift in my thinking from the moment it happened to now. Then it was "this was an act of terror and we need to respond with force to prove we cannot be taken like this" and maybe as a country that remains true but as a person the response was rooted in emotional revenge you know?
ReplyDeleteAnd it's totes true the loving people where you are bit. If I do nothing more for the kingdom then treat such and so with his love and demonstrate Christ and his bride within my relationship with you I don't think I've necessarily not fulfilled my purpose. We want to save the world and that comes often at the price of our families and the people near us and that to me seems more like a victory for Satan than anything you could be doing for Christ...