Thought...

Anyone who claims to live in God's light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It's the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God's light and doesn't block the light from others. But whoever hates is still in the dark, stumbles around in the dark, doesn't know which end is up, blinded by the darkness.

1 John 2: 9-11 (The Message)

When I was younger my maternal grandfather used to talk about us all being Jock Tamson's bairns... In essence, we were all brothers and sisters with one father. This has always stayed with me...

Relate this to the verse above and you get the gist... We can't be haters... We are guided by the light... God's light... and its explicit - we can't be haters if we live in His light.

Its too easy for us to be critical... to avoid engaging with people that we disagree with... The whole thing about same-sex marriage in the UK highlighted views from Godly people that are, in my opinion, not in sync with this love and light expressed in 1st John 2.

Don't get me wrong - this isn't some fascist liberal PC thing where we can only express the "tolerant" idea that the thought police want us to think... We have to love and express our views with love... and be in community with people we may disagree with.

Think of the Good Samaritan - we think about how the victim didn't agree with the Samaritan... what about the Samaritan..?

He wouldn't necessarily have agreed with the victim but, unlike the others, he still loved...and was prepared to love regardless of whether he agreed or not. He was in the light... not the victim's religious leaders who just walked passed him.

So today... tomorrow... love without question and without measure... Say what you need to say but with love and compassion... Don't be a hater!

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