(KJV)
II Th 1:3
3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
(KJV)
Heb 6:10
10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
(KJV)
I can see no case for not having and showing love for one another. But you may say, what about those outside the faith? There are ample indications including the scripture:
Gal 6:10
10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
(KJV)
1 Cor 12:31
31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.
(KJV)
The scripture repeats itself, Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.
We are told to do good to all men, and the Love chapter in I Corinthians 13 emphatically is lead into by the phrase of the previous chapter on spiritual matters, "and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way." Love is that excellent way. And I challenge you to find in I Coronations 13 any difference in the way you are to love a Christian or an unbeliever. It just isn't there! In fact we are to love the unbeliever enough to lead them to Christ. Isn't that a deep love?
I have asked God, "What evidence is there that we have left our first love?" I assure you the things he brought to mind did not make me feel warm and fuzzy. And I must partake first.
About six weeks after the bombing of the Federal building at Oklahoma City I sat across the table from a fellow Christian, a man I respected and I heard him call the bombing a "wake up call for the American Government." I wanted to scream, but could not. The time and place did not allow it, it would be out of place, it would offend, it would not be RC, or so I rationalized. And I blew it. Even today, the thought makes me want to scream. And I have come to the conclusion that I should have at that time and place spoken out, no matter what the consequences. Had the violence ended at Oklahoma City, there would have been too much of it, but it has continued. Names of towns we never heard before are burned into our minds. We have seen bombings, shootings, men and women beaten to death, drowned and dragged behind a truck. I have spoken out against men like Dan Delp and Bill Clinton, politicians who have abused their office, but I, like many other Christians have been curiously silent on the issue of violence. And I have been curiously silent when it might upset a brother if I spoke out. I believe it is well past time for us to stand up and be counted. We are like the men of Jesus' day that railed on publicans and tax collectors while being silent while people die. Why did they swallow the camel while straining on a gnat? It is easy, political expedience.
I should have known better and spoken out. I did know better, I just let the surroundings blind me to what I knew was right. "He that knoweth to good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." After all, it might have offended someone. And they may have thought less of me. Ouch. I'm a product of the sixties in many ways. Peter, Paul and Mary sang of a hammer and of an answer that was blowing in the wind. We Christians today have that hammer. But we have not used it to ring out the "love between my brothers and sisters, all over this land." And because of our inaction, "The answer is (still, for me, thirty five years later) blowing in the wind." It is time for each of us to look at the things around us and begin to speak out. To lend our own voice to the chorus that Peter, Paul and Mary sang, "It's the hammer of Justice, it's the bell of freedom, it's a song about the love between my brothers and my sisters, all over this land." I do not care if we cannot sing it with the clarity and beauty of their voices. We must sing it daily in our walk in this world. And the voice must be clear and understandable. The last verse of the song, "Blowing in the Wind" says: "How many times can a man turn his head, and pretend that he just doesn't see." That is exactly what I did at that dinner. I turned my head and pretended to not see what was wrong. I pretended that the bombing was regrettable but it happened. But those one hundred and sixty odd people at Oklahoma City were my neighbors. I am reminded of the parable of the Good Samaritan. To understand it we must look at the context. Jesus was being tested by the religious leaders and one had asked what was the most important commandment.
