Break My Heart For What Breaks Yours

“Jesus, break my heart for what breaks Yours.”

The lyrics to that song ran across my mind as I was on the treadmill this morning. I was running and watching the TV on silent with my 80’s Pop for Runners soundtrack playing in the background and on the TV images of the Orlando massacre kept filtering across the screen. Reels across the bottom of the news program ran numbers of injured and dead while scenes of people hugging, crying, bleeding all over the street played.

And my heart broke.

My heart broke because of the people whose lives were cut too short in a senseless act of terroristic violence. My heart broke for the friends and families who would never get to share a meal or a laugh with the loved ones they lost early Sunday morning,

And then my heart swelled and I cried sweet tears when I saw the long lines of strangers waiting to donate blood to the victims. I was moved when I saw the montage of the signs of solidarity posted across the nation, all in support of the victims and those affected by the mass shooting early Sunday.

As the scenes of solidarity and support were showing, there was a sign on which someone had written, “Love conquers hate.”

And it hit me.

Love conquers all. Love rules, it wins. It vanquishes hate, prejudice, fear. When we love someone properly, without reservation and as equals, there is no room for any of those things.

Love covers a multitude of sins. Love suffocates sin, it washes over sin in a tidal wave that drowns sin so that all that is left is the beautiful calm of love.

So stop the hate.

Stop the fear.

Stop the disgust.

Because honestly, I think loving someone is a lot less disgusting than complaining about needing more stuff while I sit in my 3,000 sq. foot, air-conditioned home.

What’s disgusting is throwing out pounds of food because we’re full or simply don’t want to bother cleaning the Tupperware we’d store the food in.

What’s disgusting is screaming at my kids to “go away for five seconds!” because they’re wanting my attention, but I’m wanting to finish a blog.

Loving someone seems a lot less disgusting to me than any number of things I do on a daily basis.

Yes, I am a Christian and I believe the Bible is the ultimate Word of God and I do not deny that it says that homosexuality is a sin, and honestly I can’t explain it. But, thank you Jesus, that is not my job. God does not need me to explain for Him why someone’s being gay is a sin any more than he needs me to explain why some loving couples are barren while abusive drug-addicts are able to have kids left and right. God didn’t command me to go out and explain His ways and reasons to others (even if I were privy to them, which I’m not). I was commanded to make disciples of all nations and the instructions He gave me to accomplish that was simple: Love others.

Love them like I love myself. And while there are some sins of my past that haunt me from time to time, I do not look at myself as a dirty sinner. I have been saved by Grace and know that but for the grace of God, so go I. And so I will love you like I love myself: imperfectly but with the knowledge that you are a beloved child of God.

So I will love you. I will love him. And her. And them. Because that was what I was commanded to do. That is what He has shown me and that is what He has asked me to do for others.