Kindness and Love

Wednesday 7/29/2015 6:33 AM

Francis of Assisi wrote these words, “Let us all, brothers, give heed to what the Lord says: ‘Love your enemies, and do good to them that hate you.’ For our Lord Jesus, whose footsteps we ought to follow, called his betrayer friend, and offered himself willingly to his crucifiers. Therefore all those who unjustly inflict upon us tribulations and anguishes, shames and injuries, sorrows and torments, martyrdom and death are our friends whom we ought to love much, because we gain eternal life by that which they make us suffer.”

Why are there no Christian leaders today making similar statements? It seems that every Christian leader who appears in the mainstream media is complaining about how Christians are being persecuted by having to bake cakes for those with whom they have differing views, by having to remove the Ten Commandments from public places or some other similarly inane complaint. There is no one calling Christians to love those who hate them, to show love and mercy to those who would do them harm. All we hear is how bad things are for Christians and we hear calls to stand up and fight against those who would do us harm.

This strategy seems to conflict with the message of the Bible to which Francis of Assisi appeals. Christians are to be holy, set apart from the world, not exactly the same as others. We need to live according to Luke 6:32-36, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Kindness and love is what is absent from message being preached by the visible and vocal Christian leaders of our time. We are told to stand up to those who would do us harm and fight for our rights. Instead we should be told to show love to those who would do us harm, to sacrifice for the good of others instead of looking out for our own good. That kind of living would be a sharp contrast to our current society and it would show the world the true nature of God, who is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.