Focus.

The pain is real. The hurt is heavy. We aren’t asked to forget; we are asked to keep our eyes on Him, trusting that He will make all things right. Will we put our lives in the hands of Love?

“The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way - never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation…” 2 Corinthians 10:3-4

This is why we fight to keep our eyes on Jesus. He is Love incarnate. There is no shortage of distractions and temptations to keep us at each other’s throats, bickering, posturing, competing, comparing, and hurting. We don’t know love apart from the source… no matter how pretty we might be able to make a situation look or how justified we think we are. There is no love apart from Him, without exception.

“My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by His Spirit - not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength - that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all the followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s Love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.” -Ephesians 3:14-19

Amen.