I am still fighting a cold, the flu, or ebola. I can’t really tell which. The way I’ve felt makes me think it’s all three. Which means that for better or worse there has been a lot of channel surfing. Okay, that’s mostly for the worst. Especially when you land on one of those so-called day time talk shows.
One show had a young guy yelling into the camera that he didn’t get someone pregnant and that it was all a trick. He knew the child couldn’t be his, because he knew the girl had been sleeping with someone else too. His closing argument was, “why should I fall in love with a baby that’s not mine?”
Let that sink in for a moment.
We live in a world that operates out of quid pro quo mentality. If that baby is mine, then I will love it. We forget just how harsh that can be. What would have happened if Joseph told Mary, “why should I fall in love with a baby that’s not mine?” That’s a reasonable response isn’t it? The baby wasn’t his. It surely complicated his life. Plus he was well within his legal right to not only divorce her, but to have her put to death. Yet he didn’t.
Why should I fall in love with a baby that’s not mine?
Imagine if that was the standard God used! Thank God (literally) it’s not. God acts out of love not because we deserve it or can earn it, but because love is who God is. It’s a defining characteristic. And the closer we move towards God, the more we begin to be defined that way.
Christianity is founded on a scandalous message. But it’s a message that’s scandalous not just because of who was involved, but also because of their actions. 2,000 years ago people who loved God made radical decisions that went against the world’s wisdom. They made decisions to love people no matter what. Today, people still make that same choice.
When you see someone in your life in need, don’t say “why should I love them, they aren’t mine?” Instead, say, “I love them, because that’s who God is.” Or as Brandon Heath
