love your neighbor

"Jesus replied- Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself." -Matt 22:37-39

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." -John 15:12-13

That's not easy. Bottom line.

Sometimes I only love when I want to. Sometimes I only love when I feel like it. Sometimes I only choose to love when it feels convenient.

Sometimes I choose to ignore. Sometimes I choose to try and forget. Sometimes I choose to pretend like I didn't see. Sometimes I choose to turn the other way.

It's easy to love the little orphan with the cute smile and eager hug. It's easy to love the little begger boy selling 10 rupee balloons along the road. It's easy to love the sweet old lady who needs help crossing the street. It's easy to love your best friend when you're hanging out on a Friday night. It's easy to love your little sister when she's being nice to you. But these aren't the only times Jesus calls us to love. It actually happens to be an all-the-time sorta thing. It's not pick and choose. He's very clear. And it's very simple.

Jesus tells us to love others. Others means any person other then yourself…aka everyone walking this planet that is not you. I've been thinking about this a lot lately.
Do I love others the way Jesus loved others? Or sometimes do I only love the ones I want to. First of all, having pity on someone is different then loving them. Feeling sorry for someone and the life they live, is not the same as loving them. Wishing things could be different for someone, is not the same as acting.

As I was sitting on the scooter, watching India pass by me the other day, I had some thoughts that wouldn't leave me alone.

Later that night as I was sitting out on the steps of the church with a blanket and some hot chai, I allowed myself to process it all. Try anyway.

From the front steps of the church you have a spectacular view of the valley of Dehradun. We live up a hill a little ways, and so you're sort of looking down out into the city. City life with the millions of tiny lights is beautiful at night from far away. It's from those steps every night that I'm reminded of the vastness of India. It's huge. There are millions upon millions of people. In those millions upon millions, are another millions upon millions of hurt, dirt poor, starving, empty, broken people who don’t understand their need for a savior.

I see and come into contact with some of those millions upon millions of people everyday. It's hard. It hurts. I don't understand it. It doesn't get easier over time.

Some nights, as I sit there my mind wanders to the impossibility and hopelessness of the reality, and I just want to get on a plane, go home, hug my family, see my friends, and go about the little life that I was perfectly content with about 5 months ago. Forget about the people. The hopeless situations. The masses of starving children. The thousands and thousands of beggars, orphans, widows. Because it seems hopeless and overwhelming. Because it just seems so hard. Because if I pretend like they don't exist, I won't be hurt. If I don't invest emotionally, I have nothing to lose. If I live my life and try to forget, everything will be ok. But it won't. And I can't forget. Those faces are etched in my mind forever. Those stories are fresh on my heart. I know too much not to act. Now that I've seen, I am responsible. Now that I know, I am held accountable.

On this particular night, as I sat there thinking about my day, I went back to the scooter ride and my thoughts. Do these thousands and thousands of hurting people matter to me? And if so, how much? Am I truly willing to give it all to any one of these people? Do I truly care about the old crippled man on the side of the street, or is he just one of the many? Has he become simply a statistic to me? Am I allowing these situations and these people to become personal? Do I value the life of the old lady with the dislocated shoulder that begs outside of the coffee shop who has clearly gotten nowhere in life, as much as I would a successful working lady I might pass on the street back home? Would I die for that homeless man that sleeps underneath the bridge across the street? Do I value the life of the little 5 year old following me around begging for money, as much as I value the life of my little sister? Would I pay as much attention when reading in the paper about the old lady who died of fever in the slums last week, as I would when reading about the beautiful, smart, young girl who lost her life in a car accident yesterday? Would I give my life for the starving, uneducated, unclean, 13 year boy sitting on the steps outside of McDonalds? Would I die for the old drunk man at the bottom of hill, as readily as I would die for my best friend? Do I value the lives of even the destitute in the way that I should?

I pray that I would. I hope that I do.

A person is a person. And God loves them all. We are called to follow suit.

I think I judge people based on their outward appearance more then I would care to admit. When I stop and think about it, at times I find myself subconsciously writing people off in my mind, and that it not ok. We all do it at some point or another. But just because we all do it, that doesn't make it right.

This doesn't just apply to the beggars on the street in India. What is truth is truth. It doesn't matter where you are. This isn't new for me just because I moved to India. I think I'm just starting to see it from different angles. But sometimes loving the very people you live with and are closest to is very far from easy. Sometimes loving your family is a challenge. It's easier to love your little sister the first time she brings you a book to read aloud to her, then it is the 11th time that day. It's easier to love your mom when she lets you do what you want, then it is to respect her when she puts her foot down on something. It's easier to love your little brother when he's helping you with the dishes, then it is when you're missing the movie with your friends because you have to drop him off at band practice. The list goes on and on….

But that doesn't matter. Just because it is hard, does not mean that Jesus doesn't ask us to do it. Love should not be based on circumstance.


You're more likely to love the sweet old lady who needs help carrying her groceries, then the old lady who smells and won't stop asking you for money. More likely to love your brother when he's doing things your way, rather then his. More likely to love your younger sister with special needs on a day that she's cheerful and nice, then a day that she treats you horribly. More likely to love the nice man at the cash register inside the store, then the pushy, half naked, starving, man outside the store. More likely to love the sweet, friendly, old man you meet when buying milk at walmart, then the dirty druggie sitting outside smoking on the corner. More likely to love the cute little girl who waves as she drives by, then the mentally unstable, un-attractive, loud, lady that begs on the corner in Rajpur.

Why? Because it's easier. Because I'm not talking about feeling sorry for someone, or having pity on them, I'm talking about truly loving them. Because it's not as messy. Because it's not as inconvenient. Because you're less likely to get hurt…emotionally it just feels "safer". It doesn't take as much of ourselves.

But that doesn't matter. We are called to love. And love and selfishness do not go together.