What if we mourned with those who mourn…even when we’re happy about what has them sad?

What if we listened to the people we disagree with, not to gather ammunition to use against them, but to understand their point of view?

What if we prayed for our opposition instead of about them?

What if we stop looking for “gotcha!” moments and started looking for what we have in common?

What if we read things out of our comfort zone?

What if we sought not to tear down but to build up?

What if we paused before hitting “like” or “post” and asked, “Will this show others the love of Christ?”

What if we refused to put labels on people, and instead called each of them “beloved of the Father”?

What if we chose patience and kindness instead of outrage and condemnation?

What if we refused to boast about our “wins”?

What if we were willing to “lose” if it would help others see God’s love?

What if we refused to show disrespect to someone just because we disagree with them?

What if we pursued their desires above our own?

What if we were the last to be angered instead of the first?

What if we kept no record of the wrongs we perceive being done to us?

What if we rejoiced, not when we get our way, but when we make a friend of someone once an enemy?

What if we protected those who are desperate and alone instead of our own self-interest?

What if we were willing to trust that God’s love is bigger than our differences?

What if we hoped in Him instead of our own power?

What if we persevered in building bridges instead of burning them down?

What if our first, gut, knee-jerk reaction was love instead of hate?

In this charged political climate, I’m making an effort to read things from both sides of every issue. What am I finding? Aside from a disheartening amount of name-calling on both sides, I’m finding that both sides also often have a solid point.

Usually I have a knee-jerk reaction to a subject…but I then take a step back and ask, “Why is this my reaction?” And I read something from the opposite point of view.

A few weeks ago, there were varying reactions to a statement from the Vice President saying that loving our own first is a very Christian principle. I read reactions renouncing this. I read reactions affirming it. Both quoted from the Bible in their defense.

Because, yes, Jesus calls us to love our enemy and points out that sometimes those supposed enemies turn out to be our neighbors.

And, yes, Paul also tells us we must care for our families and communities.

I let all the ideas swirl around in my head for several days, and then my husband shared a reaction he read. One that really resonated. To paraphrase, it was this:

Yes, we are called to care for our own. But not at the cost of others.

Protect your family–but don’t hurt another family to do it.

Feed your community–but don’t steal food from another to accomplish it.

This helped me immensely to put it all in perspective. As I’ve noted before, there are a million good things demanding our time and attention, righteous things, Godly things. But we simply don’t have enough–time, resources, or heart–to give to them all. But when we choose the things we will support and champion, we don’t hurt the other causes to do so (or we shouldn’t, anyway).

To dig wells in Africa, we don’t propose finding slave labor from Asia to do it. To send clothing to the Arctic, we don’t rob those in the Andes.

Yes, there is a natural affection for our own–our town, our county, our state, our country. Yes, we need to take care of those around us.

But not at the expense of others.

And that’s what has brought me sorrow as I watch the name-calling, the tearing-down, the attitudes I’m seeing all over my country right now. That no one seems to care who they’re hurting–not each other in our own country, and all too often, not those outside it. I am grieved as I watch the behavior of people claiming to be Christians. Not because of what they’re doing, necessarily, but because of how they’re doing it. Because they are gleeful about causing others pain.

You know why it hurts my heart so much? Because we as Christians are not called to put our own country first. We are called to put GOD’S KINGDOM first. And do you know what God’s Kingdom on earth is?

The Church.

The Church should be where our first loyalty lies. And yet I see so many believers putting their own agendas above all else and then claiming it’s of God. I see so many Christians claiming it’s for God that we treat others cruelly, because it’s necessary to protect what’s ours.

I see many of the actions being done and recognize that the end could be good. But the means matter, friends. The means ALWAYS matter. It doesn’t only matter who we HELP. It matters who we HURT in the process. That’s my new way (or new way of voicing, anyway) of determining which side to take on an issue. Why?

Because a few weeks ago, as I was praying over the outrage around us, the corruption, the greed, I asked the Lord, When is the right time for me to get angry? And I sensed Him clearly saying, Love them. That’s all you’re expected to do. Just love them.

Not just my friends, but my enemies. Not just our own, but the others. Not just those we agree with, but those we don’t understand.

Love them first. Love will give us understanding. Understanding will help us have honest dialogue. Honest dialogue will effect real change, lasting change, righteous change.

Let’s not settle for “getting our way.” Let’s strive to bring God’s way, God’s kingdom, into our every interaction.