"Maybe being loved wasn't enough; maybe there was something else you needed not to get in trouble." This line is spoken by Drew in Walter Dean Myers' book Game and it has stuck with me ever since I finished reading the book. In the context of the story, Drew makes this statement about a young man in his Harlem neighborhood who has been arrested and is facing trial for murder. There is some discussion in Drew's house about how awful this is for the young man's mother and how much she loved him. "Maybe there was something else you needed to not get in trouble."
I had a lot of time to think yesterday and I thought a little about what is that something else besides being loved that would prevent someone from trouble. Because, let's face it, almost everyone that has ever been in some kind of trouble is loved by someone. All we have to do is watch a little cable television news to see that almost all of those who find themselves in some kind of predicament have someone willing to tell others how much they love them. Though I know it is not a scientific survey, I'm pretty sure most of the guys I see at the juvenile correctional facility and even a few I've seen at the county jail in Columbus can talk about someone who loved them.
Let's take it one step further. Bill's View has always been a forum for me to discuss how I see the world and I am unapologetic about the fact that I see it through a Christian lens. So, having established that, it is a theological fact that God loves all people. He loves them unconditionally and was willing to put "skin" on that love in the person of his son Jesus Christ. Romans 8:32 and Romans 5:6-8 among other Scriptures explain that God's love and Jesus' atonement are universal. However, again, theologically speaking, the fact that God loves all and Jesus died for all doesn't, by itself, keep people from "trouble."
That brings us right back to the question "What is that something else?" I don't know if I am qualified to give a definitive answer, but one did occur to me. I was riding the shuttle bus at the Columbus airport out to the green parking lot. I was the only passenger on the bus, so I had a chance to chat a bit with the driver. He was telling me about how much rain Columbus had in just a short time. It was pretty bad for a few hours. I told him, in passing, how tough it must have been to be working during that rain. He smiled and said, "It was no problem. It doesn't mess with you if you aren't out in it."
Later, on my drive home, I thought about that a little. What he was saying was unless you were in the rain itself and getting wet, the storm didn't have much of an effect. I'm going to ask you to stay with me here as I extend this metaphor, so here goes. Unless you are taking in that love (getting wet, if you will) and allowing it to saturate who you are and to direct your actions, then being loved has no effect either. That fact that God loves you; that Jesus loves you makes no difference until you take it in and it begins to take hold of you. The fact that your mother, father, wife, husband, children love you doesn't make a difference until you allow that fact to penetrate into who you are and direct your actions. Only when love is received, internalized and allowed to guide and direct does it make a difference.
I think this is Paul's point in 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. Christ's love compelled Paul and his companions to minister, to teach and to preach. His greatest desire is for all people to be reconciled to God. If I can summarize this challenging passage, I think it may come down to this. Because Paul knows the love of Jesus Christ, he wants all people, who are also loved by Christ, to be affected enough by that love to give their lives to him and for him.
That "something else" may be the difference between watching the storm, thinking about the rain and being out in it, getting soaked. If I can stay on that analogy, I'm for folks getting wet. What about you?
Thanks for reading and have a blessed day...
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