Loving the More Fortunate

 ³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. -John 13:34


My thoughts go back to a quote Pastor Chad used in a sermon some time ago:


In his book The Magnificent Defeat, Frederick Buechner says that “The love for equals is a human thing — of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.

“The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing — the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.

“The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing — to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints.

“And then there is the love for the enemy — love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer.

This is God’s love. It conquers the world."


The first example is easy for anybody.  We all love those who love us... our family our friends.  The second example is pretty easy for most Christians and anyone with a social conscience.  But it starts getting a little harder with the next example.


It can be really hard to love those who have succeeded where we fail... those who have a beautiful home already paid for; those who have jobs that fulfill them and make use of their talents; those who have kids that seem to just do everything right; those who just seem to rise to the top in every situation.  Have you ever noticed that these seem to be the most gossiped about people?  We want to find the cracks in their armor.  We want a peek behind the closed doors.  We want to know that they sometimes fail too.


And yes, you can be certain their are cracks and failures and things they have hidden.  But what is that to us who are called to love?  If can give unconditional love to those who are poor, sick or in prison, why should we put the condition of "full disclosure" on those who seem to have it all? 


Even as I write this, I want to say that we should love them because they probably have pain they don't show.  But why should compassion be the precursor of our love?  Why can't we just love for the sake of love?  If a person was indeed perfect and had a perfect life, would that make them less deserving of unconditional love?


Rejoice today with someone more fortunate than you... and really, really love them.


Lord,
Help us to love *everyone* with your love.  Amen.


Joys:  good medical reports for a couple of friends; my own good medical report... my doctor has taken me off of my diabetes medicine; remembering my mom on her birthday as she celebrates in heaven