So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.” John 13:35
It made me pause and ponder. So, the other day I was reading a devotion that told a story about history and about us. Normally a story like this wouldn’t grab my interest but then I realized it was more than just a story about civilization—it was a story about the body of Christ—about us Jesus followers.
First the story. Years ago, anthropologist (usually any word with 14 letters is way beyond me) Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Professor Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones. But no. She said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed.
Professor Mead explained that in the animal kingdom (and that includes humans), if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, go to the river for a drink or hunt for food. Instead of looking for dinner, you are going to be somebody’s dinner. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal. I love to watch animal programs, especially ones about Africa, and what was true a zillion years ago is still true today.
Now here is where it gets very interesting. A broken femur (or leg bone) that has healed is evidence that someone helped someone. They had taken the time to stay with the one who fell, bound up the wound, carried the person to safety and tended the person through recovery. Professor Mead says that “Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts.” And let me add that is where the church, the body of Christ starts too.
The greatest evidence that we belong to Christ is not some religious ritual instead it is the love of Christ lived out in our lives. Jesus told His followers, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.” Wow how powerful is that?
Contrary to life outside the Jesus tribe, we are to be acceptors and healers. Just as Jesus willingly went to the back of the line every time, we are to do the same. We are to put others first—not when it is just convenient but all the time. That is so unusual (just like the healed bone was at a time when no one should have cared) and that is why Jesus said that the world will take notice and know we belong to Someone who is other worldly.
In a time when “me first” is more rampant than ever, let’s choose something different. Just like the Good Samaritan helped the helpless, let’s do the same. Let’s live in such a way that our lives cause every atheist to question their denial of God’s existence. Sound daunting? Well, it probably would be except for one thing. We belong to and serve a God who is greater than everything else and because of that—He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 