By Elise Swanson
With Valentine’s Day a few weeks behind us, I have been thinking a lot about love. Not the romantic, chocolate and flowers kind of love, but the love that we, as Christians, show each other. We are called as Christians to love our neighbors as ourselves and to strive to live like Christ. In this, we fail as often as we succeed.
Someone recently told me that the people who are the hardest to love need it the most. This, I think, is accurate. It is easy to love those we like and get along with, and easy to dismiss those we don’t agree with. It’s very easy to say that we want to exemplify Christ, and then to pick and choose who we show our love to. I, too, am guilty of this. I lose patience with some people much faster than others, and this is not okay. Just because someone has a different belief, personality, or interests, it is not our place to judge them.
Houghton is a unique place. We show love here more than other colleges. We leave our bags unattended without fear and hold doors open for each other (even when the person is at an extremely awkward distance). We even buy each other Java drinks for each via pay it forwards. I am thankful to be part of a campus where love is shown daily.
And yet, we forget far too often that those who have different fundamental beliefs deserve our love too. Covid-19 has just made the ways we fail to love each other clearer. Just because someone is or isn’t vaccinated doesn’t mean they are undeserving of love. If someone has a different political belief, they still deserve love. If someone does not believe in God, or is of a different faith, they still deserve our love. God loves them even when we fail to, and this is something we cannot forget. If we truly want to exemplify Christ, we must stop widening the divide between each other through love.
Loving each other should not be something determined by choice. It is about setting aside our differences and seeing each other as fellow humans who were created by God and in His image. We can’t choose to love one person and not another. To truly exemplify Christ, our love needs to be consistent for everyone.
I still remember the first game I played as a member of the Houghton softball team. After the game ended, we stood alternating with the opposing team, holding hands, and prayed. I remember thinking how strange it was to hold the hands of my “opponents,” who I had just spent three hours playing against. I soon realized, as we bowed our heads in prayer, that this was not strange. This was what showing the love of God to others should look like.
It was a beautiful experience, to know that we could put down our bats and come together with the singular goal of worshipping God. We were united by a love of Christ that overcame all dividing factors. This is what putting aside our differences can be. It can open the door to truly loving each other consistently and exemplifying God as we are called to do. ★
