'But whenever we do good to another self, just because it is a self, made (like us) by God, and desiring its own happiness as we desire ours, we shall have learned to love it a little more or, at least, to dislike it less.' Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis
Doing good to another SELF.
Another self.
We truly are all cut from the same cloth. Or if you'd rather, we are all cookies cut out of the same dough. There are any number of analogies you could use and while some will be quick- very quick- to point out that we can't be from the same cloth or same dough because we are invariably very different- that is ONLY on the outside. Inside we are all the same. The STUFF that keeps us alive that is ALL the same stuff. Strip off our outer shells and guess what? WE ARE THE SAME. Ask any medical examiner about how much alike we are on the inside. Sure there are variations of the same stuff but in minor ways. Your brain might weigh 3.5 lbs mine might weigh 3.4 lbs, but you can bet our brains look mostly the same. Maybe there is a slight discoloration difference but over all we look the same. Put two, three, four, five brains on a table and try to tell which one of those came from what color people. Put the same amount of hearts on the table and choose the one that came from Caucasian persuasion. You CAN'T DO IT! Take blood from two people and tell me which came from a Caucasian and which from an Latino. YOU CAN'T DO IT!
We might be dressed up in different skin but we are all MADE BY GOD and a SELF unto itself.
The brain in your head might not think my same thoughts but the base needs will be the exact. You'll hunger and desire food, you'll thirst and desire drink, you'll be cold and desire warmth, you'll long for happiness, contentment and you'll strive for such things. You won't want to be in pain, no one without emotional, mental defects wants to be in pain. These are basic to all of us human beings.
C.S. Lewis says- 'Whenever we do good to another self- JUST because it is a self, made (like us) by God desiring its own happiness as we desire ours…'
Doing good to another self JUST BECAUSE IT IS A SELF.
Doing good to one another because we are part of one another.
Doing good to a fellow human being simply because they are fellow human being.
NOT doing good to others because we have some ulterior motive, some selfish desire, something to gain out of it, but doing that good because we recognize that WE would want that good done to us if we were in the same position as the other human being, this is good, this is CHRISTIAN LOVE.
'But whenever we do good to another self, just because it is a self, made (like us) by God, and desiring its own happiness as we desire ours, we shall have learned to love it a little more or, at least, to dislike it less.' Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis
We shall have learned to love others a little more every time we do for it as we would want done to us- or maybe if we aren't learning to LOVE them, we are at least (as he said) learning to dislike it less.
Do you suppose you could take someone you've a natural dislike for and vow to treat them good in some small way EVERYTIME you see them, and continue to dislike them? Probably. But there again we are NOT supposed to be looking for ways to LIKE people, to have affection for them. We are supposed to be revealing CHRISTIAN LOVE. A LOVE that genuinely cares for them because GOD cares for them.
We need to tell ourselves as we are out and about our daily lives interacting with others however briefly or lengthy that GOD LOVES THIS PERSON, THESE PEOPLE. GOD LOVES them sooooo much He sent His Only Son to DIE for them! God did that! He never asked us to judge a person's eternal life, never! He doesn't want us looking at others and writing them off as being lost to Him simply because they are committing atrocities we can't even comprehend. God wants us to LOVE them and leave all the eternal life judging to HIM.
So when we are experiencing first hand abuse at the hands of one God Loves, how are we to react?
Mat 5:39 ... whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Do we do this?!
How many of you just said, 'Heck no!'?
It's not natural to us. We haven't cultivated this reaction in ourselves. We haven't let God work in us in this way just yet. Satan wants us to never react this way and he will do all he can to make it so we never do. It's a striving, it's an ACT OF WILL, a deliberate choice we must make, not give in to knee jerk reactions.
God would have us love others because we are basically all the same in His eyes. The ugliest person in the entire world is still offered salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. The most beautiful person is offered salvation as well. The nicest, the worst, the greediest, the most selfless, the shyest, the most outgoing- it doesn't matter to God, salvation is a GIFT offered to all.
IF you are a follower of Christ then you have to believe that we are all offered salvation. If you believe we are all offered salvation then you have to realize that there isn't a single other person in existence who is different in matters of eternity.
Under our skin the real truth exists.
Every Jew, every Protestant, every Catholic, every Moslem, every Hindu, every follower of the many, many different religions, every Pagan, every Atheist is ultimately the same under their skin.
We are the same flesh and blood.
We are the same bone and muscle.
We are the same.
My thoughts, my choices define who I am. My beliefs shape my views about life. But laying ALL those thoughts, choices, beliefs aside and just lay me skinned on a slab of metal next to another skinned on a slab of metal and you would never know what I believe, you would never know what I looked like with flesh. We are the same and GOD knows this!
God also knows that it is our choices, our beliefs, our views that enable us to choose to believe in HIM and HIS love, or not. We've been given this wonderful ability to make choices so we are not automatons acting under the control of another. We have to allow everyone to make the choice to believe how they are convicted to believe. If we try and force anyone to believe the way we do, then we are taking away their ability to choose freely.
God would NEVER take away the choice we have to freely make.
God is love.
And love ONLY can come from GOD, without God there is NO real love, but rather a substitute love of a worldly kind that believes it is real when it is not.
God is love and all else, all false love is not of God but rather of the one who would put himself in God's place, setting up his own counterfeit love- very realistic so much so it will fool MANY, in fact MOST.
God is love and He would have us believe in HIM, but He will not force that belief.
He has outlined the entire conflict between good and evil in His Holy Word and people will make a choice either for Him and His love, or against Him and His love.
He would have all choose to love HIM, every single human being.
We can desire nothing less if we choose to be His.
In choosing to be God's we are choosing to desire the salvation of every single human being, letting NOTHING cloud that.
Please LORD, help us to LOVE as YOU love!
Help us to see under the skin, past all that makes it hard for us to truly love one another with Christian love, and to do as YOU command.
All through YOUR LOVE, YOUR amazing, wonderful LOVE.
In Christ Jesus Always! By His grace and mercy, in His righteousness, by YOUR WILL.
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