In our last episode, we briefly looked at several world religions. In our abbreviated tour, we discovered a version of the golden rule weaves a common thread among the major world religions, as does a shared idea for what it means to be human.
In this episode, we focus our attention on Christian ideas of what it means to be human. Like other religions, love of self and others plays a central role in Christian ideals. Leo Buscaglia writes, “There are no strings attached to Christian love.” God’s love is unconditional and so must our love be if we truly model our lives after Jesus.
Christianity differs from other religions in one very dramatic way. We believe God lived among us fully human. And we strive to model our own lives after His example. This means being human for Christians is to reflect God’s image in the daily choices we make.
One does not have to believe Jesus is God in order to model your life after Him. But without God’s help it is impossible to reach such high standards for loving others. It is only through God’s grace that we recognize Jesus is our Way to eternal life.
Unconditional love forms the foundation for the Way Jesus offers for eternal life. We’re called to love God and others unconditionally. And Jesus offers a living demonstration of unconditional love.
We began our series with the question, “What does it mean to be human?” And discovered a state of humanness psychologists call self-actualization. Simply be the best version of ourselves we can be.
This does sound simple, so what doesn’t it happen for more of us? And what does love have in common with self-actualization?
Leo Buscaglia suggested this addition to loving others as we love ourselves. “Give unto God and the world all that you are and all that you can be.” We enter the world eager to be the best version of ourselves, totally dependent on love for survival and ready to discover all that’s out there to love.
Then life gets in the way. We get hurt, and our humanness takes over, beginning with our instinct for survival. Perhaps we touch a hot pan, recoil and store away for daily use to not touch hot pans. Since the pan is inanimate, it can’t love us back. And the hurt came out of our own action. It’s a learning experience. We heal and only occasionally forget and repeat our mistake.
More often, our burn isn’t physical, but emotional, and comes from other humans. Sometimes, harsh words from someone we love wounds us. Sometimes, the hurt includes physical harm. The scars left behind may not always be visible to others. And others feel the impact of the wound, usually without understanding its source. They too may feel wounded or rejected by us.
Herein lies the problem. Humans naturally tie strings to love driven, at least in part, by our own desire to be loved. And life experiences point us toward love qualified by exchange. Quid pro quo. I’ll love you if… And this simply doesn’t work as well as we might think.
Let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 John 4:7-12
Love is an act of free will. We’re given the freedom to make choices, including choosing who we love. However, as Christians, in modeling our lives after Jesus, we strive to make decisions according to God’s will.
Jesus tells us unconditional love extends beyond those who love us back, including our enemies. Including persons who have done us harm. This includes those with whom we disagree and even those whom we firmly believe are inconsistent with God’s will.
This sort of love is hard, but conditional love is not God’s intent. Scripture is clear. God is love. Also, God wants us to love ourselves unconditionally. And this is one place where self-actualization is critical.
Our best self is being the best version of ourselves. The version reflecting God’s image. And we reflect God’s image when our love shows through.
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A reminder that we publish this newsletter that we call the Circuit Rider each week. You can request this publication by email. Send a request to FlintAsburyUMC@gmail.com or let us know when you send a message through our website. We post an archive of past editions on our website under the tab, Connect – choose Newsletters.
Pastor Tommy
Parts of our series was inspired by Leo Buscaglia. Personhood: The Art of Being Fully Human. NY: Random House,1986.