right now

Romans 5: 6-8

6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I was watching a show last night and there was a line spoken that I loved……”we have to love people for who they are, not their potential.” That is a pretty hard thing to do. Most of us tend to see some one for all they can be, not what they are right now. When we choose a spouse, we look at the potential, our kids, we are looking at the potential, our jobs….you got it…. it is the potential. It is not that I think there is anything wrong with looking to the future, we all do it; where we fall short is “right now”. So often we fail to love people for what they are right now, for how they are, and what they do, flaws and all. We forget that we are sinners, one no better than the next.


As the passage above reads “While we were sinners, Christ died for us”. What we do with that is up to us. He died for us knowing that it would not be enough for some, and many would think it was more than needed, but he loves us…..all of us, just as we are, he gave his life for all before him, and all that came after him, in spite of all of our wickedness, he loves us. In turn, we are charged by Christ, to love others as he loves us.

Christ did not say you can be forgiven, if you do better, or you are close and maybe next year you will be good enough to be saved. All he asked was for us to acknowledge him, and in return he would acknowledge us before his Father. Right then and there, no if ands or buts. He is willing to take us, and place us under his wing, and love us, no matter our past, no matter our mistakes, no matter how low we think we are in our life, “right now” that is a good place to start as far as the Lord is concerned.

If the Lord can love us with that much conviction, with that much grace, then we must in turn love each other in the same fashion. Yes, we can have a wonderful discussion about the potential of that relationship, where it will go, what is expected of us, and how we should live, but the point is for the Lord to love us “right now” is enough. It is not our potential that he loves us for. He does not love us because of where were are going or what we can do. This is how we must love others, we all will end our journey at different points along the path to the Lord, some will make it further than others, some will struggle at the starting point their whole life. This spiritual journey does not have an earthly destination, it is the journey itself that is the task. At the starting point, in the middle…… no matter your place, it is you right now that the Lord loves, just being on the path sometimes is enough. So….as he loves us, let us love each other.

Peace,
Rev. Thetford