Loving Others in our World | Rev. Brooke Hartman

What does it look like to love others in the world, i.e. those with different values, who may identify with other Christian denominations or religions, or who live in other countries? As followers of Christ we are called to love those who are not like ourselves. One way of doing this is to find common ground. Even though we may be different in many aspects everyone wants to feel appreciated and loved. We need to focus not on our differences but on our similarities. It is a fact that even when we disagree with someone on an idea, there is still 10% of our discussion that we can agree upon. Let us work to focus on the 10% that we agree upon with those who are different than us. This is a starting place rather than a final goal but it is a good place to begin. When we learn to shift our mindset to what we have in common instead of focusing on our differences we see each other in a different light. Discovering what we have in common with others begins with us.

Scripture - 1 John 4:11-21; James 1:19