" 8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." Romans 13:8-10
constantly asking God to teach me how to love- not the worldly love, but the love that Jesus showed to us. ever since i moved to indiana, i was so culture-shocked by the way caucasians viewed minorities. i guess in a way, they were "shocked" as well.. culturally haha. but seriously. born and raised in cities and having lived in both the east and west coasts all my life, i considered myself to be pretty cultured and a fairly open-minded individual. so when i attended my freshman year of high school at some pretty hick 2000 student school who had a total of 8 asians (including me), in my defense mechanism, i judged them for being so close-minded and ignorant. whenever i went out to eat and people stared at me for being "oriental" i would stare them down with dirty looks until they looked away and in my teen angst, i prided myself for being so "strong and forthright". in retrospect, i was pretty immature and rude. but even now i find myself occasionally shooting dirty looks at people who look at me "the wrong way" and mentally stamp "bitch" to their foreheads. and so when i came to read verses 8-10, i was immediately rebuked. is this how im showing Christ's love?? claiming to love God's people with my mouth yet inwardly cursing at them? "Love your neighbor as yourself". i seem to have forgotten the golden rule. is this how i would want others to treat me? im sure Jesus received some dirty looks back in his day, people looked at him with hatred, in fear, and skepticism.. but never did he once shoot back with a dirty look. never did he ever become defensive. instead, he did what no other man would ever do- he humbly took our sins and died for us so that we would stop living in sin..
