Daily Office Readings for Saturday of the 2nd Week of Easter: Year 1
Morning, Psalms 20 and 21:1 to 7; Evening, Psalm 110:1 to 5, and 116 to 117;
Daniel 3:19 to 30; 1st John 3:11 to 18; Luke 4:1 to 13:
“All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them.” (1st John 3:15)
I do believe that hate is bad and one should learn to not let one’s self be reduced to hate. It was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said, after a racial encounter with a Southern U. S. policeman, that he has seen firsthand what hate can do to a person. And he vowed to never let hate do this to him. I personally don’t believe that because we have hate in us that we are murderers, particularly if we haven’t acted on such hate. We can overcome hate and we do it with love.
In 1st John 3:15, there is also the idea that eternal life is already abiding in at least some of us. For me, this is something wonderful to ponder. This means that some of us have learned to live the code of eternal life while still walking around in this mortal body. I want that. Having eternal life abiding in me now will make the transition to that next life so much more doable.
Also, having eternal life abiding in us now, more fully brings us to God’s will, being done “on earth as in heaven.” Eternal life abiding in us now is a way to narrow the separation between heaven and earth. It is the coming of the Lord back to us in ways we didn’t expect. It is the gradual, but steady move of humanity to more fully embrace the concept of love for all people. It sounds impossible. And, for people it probably is. But remember, for God, nothing is impossible.
God may infuse the abiding love of eternal life in us a few people at a time until we have “herd immunity” against hate. For us we think in terms of how much time this will take. God doesn’t seem to be concerned with time as God has no beginning and no end. But God has made provision for those of us who already have eternal life abiding in us. Are you one of those who have decided to not let hate rule you? Are you one of those who have decided to let love rule? Are you one of those who has eternal life abiding in you. If so, you are ahead of your time.
Let us live to love, more than we just love to live, listening to what the Spirit is saying to, and through, the saints of God, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 