*Published in Signs of The Times magazine January 2017*
When we built our dream home in the country we imagined days filled with peace, tranquility and nothing but the sound of birds floating above us. When we moved in we quickly realized we had under estimated the neighbors son, directly across the street from us, who his mother referred to as a 'budding mechanic', and his power to make senseless noise as he revved one engine after another, to what seemed like the engines limit. Surely loud enough to send any deer, rabbit or chipmunk running in the opposite direction as fast as they could escape. Luckily we had the sixth sense, when designing our home, to move the master bedroom to the far and opposite side of the house where no immediate neighbors lived, and then we sound proofed like wild Canadians preparing for a mid January day. What we had not foreseen was that in doing so, our other 2 bedrooms took residence on that 'unpleasant' side of the house, including our newborn sons room. Mothers around the world will agree, the last thing u want outside of your sleeping baby's room is a loud, disruptive, sometimes manic neighbor! But that's exactly what we have. In the past year we have learned to live with the noise through cringes and eye rolls. Thankfully it doesn't seem as frequent as it once did. Yet still when it gets bad I find myself praying that this young twenty something year old will meet a nice young women and move away.
It's easy on quiet days when the birds are singing and we hear cows mooing to imagine offering my life to save this young man (if it ever came down to it) like Jesus says. After all we, as Christians, must be willing to do just that "lay down your life". But when the engines roar and my baby is trying to sleep, if faced with that decision I would like to think I would still offer my life, but I'm sure it would be with a certain reluctance. And folks, herein lies the problem.
In this world we live in today, we as Christians are not actively living with love as strong as some are choosing to actively live out their hate. Is it easier to hate something or someone with all that you are than it is to love someone with all that you are? Someone you actually don't like? Someone you don't agree with? Is it easier to offer your life as a sacrifice in order to do harm and perhaps even kill someone you hate than it is to sacrifice yourself, your comforts, your pride, your life even to save someone?
What we see happening in this world is an epidemic of evil possessed haters who put their hate above their own well being and their own life. It's terrifying to know someone is going to do evil and they don't care if they die in the process, that might actually be their end goal! These people are living more dedicated to hate than we are living dedicated to love. Are we too comfortable? Do we enjoy our lives too much? Are we complacent with our God that He can do the dirty work while we sit back and complain and pray for mindless things like "Dear Lord, please let this neighbor find a reason to move away so that I don't have to be bothered with his noise".
I'm not making a statement that we need to actively look for real life situations that we might physically offer our lives to save another. But I am saying that we, as Christians, need to be finding ways on a daily basis to lose our life in a way that we are no longer thinking of ourselves. Our wants, desires, comforts and needs and that our sole purpose is to be spreading our love. The love that God gave to us when we didn't deserve it. Spreading His love to the ones we least want to give it too. Pushing ourselves to go into the places we don't want to go emotionally and mentally. Because if we don't, if we, as the body of Christ on earth, do not do this. Than hate is producing better disciples than love. And I believe God has called us to be more.
“Can you imagine hate, so strong, it is willing to die in order to kill it's enemy? Jesus told us to love, so strong, that we are willing to die, to save our enemy. What a contrast!” #prayforpeace
Sincerely,
Naomi Striemer
Best Selling Author, Speaker, Singer and Music Ministry Consultant.
www.naomistriemermusic.com
When we built our dream home in the country we imagined days filled with peace, tranquility and nothing but the sound of birds floating above us. When we moved in we quickly realized we had under estimated the neighbors son, directly across the street from us, who his mother referred to as a 'budding mechanic', and his power to make senseless noise as he revved one engine after another, to what seemed like the engines limit. Surely loud enough to send any deer, rabbit or chipmunk running in the opposite direction as fast as they could escape. Luckily we had the sixth sense, when designing our home, to move the master bedroom to the far and opposite side of the house where no immediate neighbors lived, and then we sound proofed like wild Canadians preparing for a mid January day. What we had not foreseen was that in doing so, our other 2 bedrooms took residence on that 'unpleasant' side of the house, including our newborn sons room. Mothers around the world will agree, the last thing u want outside of your sleeping baby's room is a loud, disruptive, sometimes manic neighbor! But that's exactly what we have. In the past year we have learned to live with the noise through cringes and eye rolls. Thankfully it doesn't seem as frequent as it once did. Yet still when it gets bad I find myself praying that this young twenty something year old will meet a nice young women and move away.
It's easy on quiet days when the birds are singing and we hear cows mooing to imagine offering my life to save this young man (if it ever came down to it) like Jesus says. After all we, as Christians, must be willing to do just that "lay down your life". But when the engines roar and my baby is trying to sleep, if faced with that decision I would like to think I would still offer my life, but I'm sure it would be with a certain reluctance. And folks, herein lies the problem.
In this world we live in today, we as Christians are not actively living with love as strong as some are choosing to actively live out their hate. Is it easier to hate something or someone with all that you are than it is to love someone with all that you are? Someone you actually don't like? Someone you don't agree with? Is it easier to offer your life as a sacrifice in order to do harm and perhaps even kill someone you hate than it is to sacrifice yourself, your comforts, your pride, your life even to save someone?
What we see happening in this world is an epidemic of evil possessed haters who put their hate above their own well being and their own life. It's terrifying to know someone is going to do evil and they don't care if they die in the process, that might actually be their end goal! These people are living more dedicated to hate than we are living dedicated to love. Are we too comfortable? Do we enjoy our lives too much? Are we complacent with our God that He can do the dirty work while we sit back and complain and pray for mindless things like "Dear Lord, please let this neighbor find a reason to move away so that I don't have to be bothered with his noise".
I'm not making a statement that we need to actively look for real life situations that we might physically offer our lives to save another. But I am saying that we, as Christians, need to be finding ways on a daily basis to lose our life in a way that we are no longer thinking of ourselves. Our wants, desires, comforts and needs and that our sole purpose is to be spreading our love. The love that God gave to us when we didn't deserve it. Spreading His love to the ones we least want to give it too. Pushing ourselves to go into the places we don't want to go emotionally and mentally. Because if we don't, if we, as the body of Christ on earth, do not do this. Than hate is producing better disciples than love. And I believe God has called us to be more.
“Can you imagine hate, so strong, it is willing to die in order to kill it's enemy? Jesus told us to love, so strong, that we are willing to die, to save our enemy. What a contrast!” #prayforpeace
Sincerely,
Naomi Striemer
Best Selling Author, Speaker, Singer and Music Ministry Consultant.
www.naomistriemermusic.com
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