It seems a clarification of my little parable yesterday may be needed. In my defense, my brain has always thought in a weird, abstract kind of way. I just tend to hold on for the ride!
The long, low bell tone is the voice of God. A still, small voice that calls us, and we are to follow that voice on the path it leads us. A straight and narrow path, because the message is simple and direct; love God and love each other. No deviations, just love.
But we are human. We begin to trust our own direction, rather than simply follow the voice that leads us. (Side note: following my own directions once landed me in Indiana, when I was actually headed for Southern Kentucky - just saying) When we start to trust ourselves and our own guidance, then other voices begin to be heard. Some of them may even seem to be in harmony with God's voice, at first. Soon though, these voices become more and more important, and take us off the simple straight and narrow path onto a path not of love, but corrupted.
"If you don't vote for (political party inserted here) you're not a Christian!"
If you don't agree with my views on (immigration, healthcare, civil rights, gun laws, child rearing, pants on left or right leg first, chicken or egg first, etc.) then you are not only not a Christian, you are the anti-Christ!"
On the many different social medias we now have, on television and radio, and far too often in our churches and work places, these voices flow freely and loudly. And the voice actually behind these voices reveals itself. Hate. Hate generated by fear. Hate that uses fear, manipulates it, whips it, and us, into a frenzy. Now here is my point. Anything, repeat ANYTHING, that does not come from a place of God's love, is WRONG. I don't care how right the cause may seem, God is Love, and if there is no love, then God is not in it. Anything that calls away from God's love is wrong, because we focus on the cause, not God. We think we know the truth, when we only see through a glass darkly. Worst of all, we judge, as if we were gods, and think we can do the job God has expressly given to Himself only. There's a reason we are told to "judge not". We don't and can't ever have all the answers and details of someone else's heart.
Get off the paths the other voices lead us on. Get back on the path, straight and narrow, that God's voice has never stopped calling for. Love, in all things. Love others with God's love, even, especially, when our own fails. Love, because every cause not lead by love will ultimately destroy others... and ourselves. Love, because Love never fails.
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