Thanksgiving and Forgiveness

God’s children are marked by their love for one another. Jesus said so, and even gave the world the right to judge us if we don’t. This is an odd sort of love in that it is not about emotions or personal preferences. If I am walking in the Spirit and not according to my sinful nature, I will deeply care about the well-being of my bothers and sisters in Christ, and will sacrifice myself for them. It is a love that I don’t have apart from Jesus.

In fact, love was the first change that I noticed when Jesus came into my life. Before that I knew that I didn’t like anyone very much and even though I wanted to, I couldn’t change that. Yet Jesus did it for me. His arrival brought with Him is love for His people, and as He became my new life, I changed.

This love is not mushy sentimentality, nor is it always easy. God’s people have diverse gifts and backgrounds. We struggle with sin and sometimes act as if we don’t have the love of God in us. Nevertheless, we do have an amazing capacity to love each other without any of the prerequisites required by non-Christians. This love comes from God and is foreign to anyone who does not have Christ in their life.

I’ve family coming over today for Thanksgiving. Some of them do not know Jesus. As much as family can care for family that is all I can expect. Yet lately I’ve noticed a subtle antagonism toward me, as if their ‘family love’ is being faked and they really don’t like me at all.

Of course I’m bothered by it. I prayed about it yesterday and this morning as I sat down to my devotional reading. As usual, God addressed my concern. He put me in a passage for today from 1 John, and this is what I read:

Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death (1 John 3:13-14).

Family ties and blood aside, the Bible calls those who do not know Jesus ‘the world’ and says that they will hate those who belong to Him. In Matthew 10:34-39, Jesus predicted this would happen regardless of family relationships:

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

I’m always dismayed by these verses, but John says not to marvel or be surprised. The real surprise would be if those who reject Jesus accepted His followers. That is not going to happen.

What am I supposed to do about it? For one thing, I can be thankful that I know I have “passed from death to life” since I pass this love test. I can also be thankful that it is evident enough in my life that some of my family knows it and reacts. One of them has faked affection for years, but now is at least being honest. I’d rather see integrity (and be hated) than see niceness and hypocrisy.

Jesus says not to make those relationships a priority over my relationship with Him. As difficult as it is, I must not compromise what He asks of me. While I won’t ‘shove my faith’ down anyone’s throat, I cannot pretend that I don’t have any faith either. He promises that if I lose my life in Him, I will find and experience the riches of true life, eternal life. One of those riches is enjoying love in the family of God. I have another family that cares from me, no strings attached. I can also enjoy fellowship with Jesus in a deeper way because He knows exactly what it feels like to be rejected by His own and offers me His ability to say, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”