Y’all….all few things……
Way, WAY back when I was but a teeny lad in the nursery and kindergarten at church, we were taught a song:  Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world…..

So yeah.  ALL the children of the world.  Now, Mr. Webster, that brilliant purveyor of dictionaries, defines “all” as this:  “including everyone or everything without exception.”

And, Mr. Webster, in his brilliance, defines “the world” as:  “the earth, together with all of its countries, peoples, and natural features.”

Ya put these two together, and there is a whole lot of loving we have to do.  Reckon wonder how do we do that?  Especially in today’s tumultuous world.  Funny thing, tho.  We have an answer for that.  It’s not often that I quote directly from the Scriptures, but today?  Yeah, Imma do that, coz today we have the answer for our “how do we do that” question straight from the mouth of Jesus:

Jesus said to his disciples:

“To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic.

Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.  For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?  Even sinners love those who love them.

And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?  Even sinners do the same.

If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?  Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount.

But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Stop judging and you will not be judged.  Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.  Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap.  For the  measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”  Luke 6:27-38

I’d say, based on this little nugget of scripture, we all of us, every single solitary one of us, has some work to do.  Ya see, it seems to me that we let things divide us, we let our differences get in the way of what matters, and we, selfishly, want things to go our way and in doing so, we step on and over folks, and sometimes we just wanna knock them out of our way.  But ya know what?  Paul teaches us in Galatians that,  “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave or free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”.  (Galatians 3:28)  And again in Colossians, “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.”  (Colossians 3:11) 

Oops?  If this is the case, then we have some work to do.  Y’all are smart enough to figure out how to apply what Jesus has said to your own lives without me telling ya, and you can certainly figure out what Paul was saying on your own.  The trick here is to actually apply it.  To live it.

Like I just said, we, all of us, have some work to do.

Amen.