Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 3/15/12 - Love, Compassion, Tolerance and Acceptance for All

"You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." Matthew 5:43-48 NLT

When most of us came into recovery and to Christ one of the one of the amazing attractions was the love we received, and how folk tolerated that we were still engaging in our old behaviors. They had compassion for our struggles and accepted us for who we were regardless how bad we seemed or what we had done. The most amazing part of it was we got all of this from folk we didn't even know. Many of us will say if it wasn't for that love, compassion, tolerance and acceptance we received in early recovery we wouldn't have been able to stay clean or begin to build a relationship with God and ourselves.

So why is it so hard for us to practice those same spiritual principles with others? Why are we judgmental and intolerant of new folk? Why can't we find it in our hearts to have compassion for somebody else who's struggling. When we truly examine ourselves we find that some of our greatest acts of intolerance are toward folk who are struggling with something that we are now free of. Sadly we forget that it took us 20 years to get free and they've only been struggling with it for a year but "they betta get it now!"

However, whats really sad is that this lack of willingness to practice spiritual principles is only extended to folk we either don't know or don't like. The folk we like get a pass. The text warns us that this isn't how spiritual, save folk who've been brought out of what we've been brought out of are supposed to act. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves how blessed we are that God has not been that impatient, intolerant, and judgmental with us. It's time we began treating everyone, even the folk that have hurt us and we dislike, the way that God has treated us and the way that we were treated by others when we were lost. We need to remember that every other human being, regardless of how we perceive their value are priceless to God and as His children they should be priceless to us as well.