This world needs more love
- Kyle Snyder: Live on Purpose
- February 24, 2021
- 727
“Love is not only something you feel; it is something you do.” — David Wilkson.
We are living in difficult times right now, of the likes most of us have never seen.
We have been through such periods before as a nation, but it has never hit so close to home and taken over our lives this much.
When the stock market crashed in 2008, we felt it, but we got through it. Not so with COVID-19. There are people on both sides of the issue of wearing a mask. It just seems like we are at each others’ throats. People who believe in wearing masks want to stop the spread of the virus, but some people think being told they have to wear one feels like their rights are being taken away.
Both sides have the right to feel like they do, but what about loving one another? I feel we need to show more love to our fellow man. A little understanding goes a long way. This is not the world we grew up in, but I have hope that soon it will get back to normal. Until then, I hope we can just love people and respect them no matter which side they are on. For me, I find myself judging people who don’t agree with me, and then I realize I have no right to judge. However, it’s just so hard not to do that.
This is something I still wrestle with in my own life: how to just love people I don’t agree with. People who act like they don’t need to change most likely don’t mean to come across as not caring about others. It’s just that many of them find it so hard to change. For our whole lives, we shook hands when we met someone, and people still want to do that. I just tell them for right now I don’t shake. I just let them know where I am with that. I don’t get in their face about the fact we shouldn’t be touching. I just say thanks but no thanks.
I don’t think everybody will agree on masks, but we can hopefully disagree with love. We don’t always know where people are coming from — not just on masks but on others things as well. We don’t know people’s history or what kind of bad experiences they have had. I’m beginning to understand most people have a story behind why they act the way they do. They could have been physically, sexually or emotionally abused and now have a hard time trusting others. Some people only know how to talk in a forceful manner to others because they feel like that is the only way people will listen to them.
Loving some people is difficult sometimes, but we should try to make an attempt to love everyone because that is how Jesus wants us to act. If we are doing our best to follow Jesus, we should love everyone.
The world calls people unlovable. Jesus told us no one is unlovable because he died for all. John 3:16 reads, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” If that is how God loves us, we should be willing to put things aside and love people just the way they are.