From The Pastor’s Pen – By Brian Horrobin
Back in early June I was walking out my back door one Sunday morning when I felt a sharp pain on the top of my head.
When I looked up there was a blue jay circling around above our back porch.
I didn’t think much about this until later that same day, coming out the same door, I was attacked once again by this feisty fowl, and this time he drew blood!
Man, did that hurt!
I soon discovered that there was a nest nearby and mom and dad Blue Jay were doing what their instincts told them to do: attack any would-be threats to their little ones.
They were wrong, of course, because I had no intention of harming their nest, but they didn’t know that.
This is sometimes how we act when we don’t trust others or don’t get along with them. We go on the offensive to bite and devour, instead of first finding out the truth.
The early church had this problem (and hey, so does the church today) so the apostle Paul gave some sound advice to take a different approach. Here is what he said in Galatians 5:14-15: “The entire law is summed up in a single command, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
Loving our neighbour as ourselves does not mean we have to agree with them on every issue, it simply means to show them deference and consideration, to do something kind for them and refrain from criticism and arguments.
Let’s face it, in this world full of different people, people we rub shoulders with every day, we have opportunities galore to do one or the other.
So, what will it be?
Show love to someone, or peck at them until they bleed?
The choice is yours!
