How is your love walk? For God so loved the world that he gave. Giving is a part of God’s divine nature. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His glory and excellence (2 Peter 1:3). How does this impact us in our daily responsibilities in our homes, communities, and the marketplace?
Even His creation declares his love for us. When we bask in the sun, each ray of light testifies to his goodness and his love. We see the beauty of flowers and the bounty of our gardens, and it reminds us of his graciousness – his bountiful love. Have you noticed that the earth keeps attempting to do regenerate itself despite our abuse? God designed it to be resilient because of his merciful love. Even when we destroy and misuse the earth, there is still plenty for all of us (if we would share). What God did for us in the creation of the world reflects His love; God gave.
Since God gave, giving is a proper response to his graciousness. We demonstrate that we love him and appreciate his goodness when we share love in return. He looks to us to be His arms of compassion, his face of hope, and his wellspring of forgiveness. He is not color blind; He does not need to be. We are all created in his image regardless of the color of our skin or our socioeconomic position. He made every nation, kindred, and tongue. He loves us in our uniqueness. According to 1 John 4:19, we love him because he first loved us. We show that we love him when we love one another. It is not necessary to color blind. We should appreciate the colors and rhythms found in ethnicity and the bountiful creativity available to all humanity. We all should share in one another as a family because we are all one blood.
Science has proven that there was only one Royal Family from which all humanity sprang. Research led by Mark Stoeckle and David Thaler from the University of Basel in Switzerland concluded that based on mitochondrial DNA, which consists of our genetic barcodes, 90% of all species exist today from the same parents. According to Stoeckle and Thaler, although culture and life experience make people different, our basic biology remains the same, and our genetic differences reflect a low diversity level. The book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible and Stoeckle and Thaler’s scientific research substantiates what God has already said in Genesis the second chapter. According to Genesis 2:7:
…Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
This man name Adam, meaning from the ground from which God then reached into and removed what was already inside of Adam and created the female, Eve. According to Genesis 2:21-22,
…the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man (NIV).
God created one woman Eve and coupled her with the man Adam. The first human beings were the parents from which all other humans, made in God’s image, would descend.
Since we are come from the same family, seeing differences is not the issue, the problem is what we do towards those differences the impact how we treat one another. Some do not live their full potential because entitlement gives place to hidden prejudices. Even when it appears, we are successful, when success comes as byproduct of disenfranchising others, we are living beneath your privileges.
God gives two examples of people who did not reflect His love and can become spots in our love walk. Jude verses 11 and 12 read:
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Do we operate in justice and equity to all people? We might have a bias that might blind us from another person’s human potential. Are we listening to our hearts, Holy Spirit, or other people? God warns us in the Book of Jude verse 21, in the New Testament Bible, that some walk in the way of Cain, who killed his brother out of anger, jealousy, and resentment. There were those that, like Balaam, care about possessions than people. God said that these people would be spots in our love feast. Are you one of those people who appear to be fair have areas that blind you and others to the conditions of your heart? What is the root cause of your biases? If you seek God, He will reveal the actual state of your heart and empower you to change.
Living our potential is the ultimate result of loving our neighbor without condition. God warns the steward that buried his talent, given to him by his master. According to Matthew 25:14-26
For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. 16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
The wicked servant, as called by the master, could not see the potential of investing what the master had given him. Are you suppressing your potential by avoiding risks, failing to complete projects, missing deadlines, making excuses on why you cannot take necessary steps toward fulfilling your human potential? It is time to step into our destiny with bold confidence. When we do not present our absolute best to a situation, we deprive others of our potential and the gift God has graced us with to give the world. However, our objective is to love unconditionally and embrace cultural and external differences. God hid these differences within Adam and Eve’s DNA and populated the earth’s uttermost parts with beautifully diverse people groups. Are you willing to give or let go of hidden biases and prejudices to walk in love? All we need is love.