Speak love, but only after you act on it

The racial tensions that continue to harness hatred, division and tension in our nation continue to cripple Christians across the color spectrum. Yet there is not just hope, there is an application we can all use—scripture.

The lectionary epistle reading for Sunday, June 7^th, is 2 Corinthians 13:11-13. In this passage from Paul come words with meaning, weight, and direction for our nation—and, as importantly—for ourselves. Paul writes in verse 11b, “Live in harmony and in peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.”

Notice the sequence, particularly since this message is set up this way. The plea, request, demand, or urging to live in harmony and peace comes first. This is followed by Paul sharing that as this living in harmony and in peace is done, then God will be with you. For high school grammar fans (and I was one of them), Paul could have said, “IF you live in harmony and peace, THEN the God of love and peace will be with you.”

This cause and effect conditional sentence can seem a little weird to some, a little off. After all, isn’t God with us always? What, we have to be nice and loving first, and then God shows up?

Maybe.

Before I lose anyone to what may be read so far as heresy, I do have to say that God, or, specifically, the God of love and peace, IS with us always. God never parts from us. We part from God.

Let me make my point. I hear Paul asking us to step up to the problems plaguing our nation. There is a time to sit back. There is a time to ponder. There is a time to go off and pray silently as Jesus Himself had done. We also see the dangers of impulsive actions.

But love needs to come out, Paul is saying. Love needs to be seen, heard, felt—and even tasted.

Sometimes this love needs to come first. By this I mean we have to show up on the frontlines first, and then we receive how and what we are to do.

Think about a firefighter. She cannot know exactly what she’s facing until she gets out of the fire truck and, with her team, assesses the scene. Taken even further, she doesn’t know what is in front of her—exactly—until she’s inside the burning structure.

So it is with God and this scripture. Act. Go first. Show up.

I don’t know exactly what this means to you, but you do—or, even better, you will. You will know what this means when you’re there. I just invite you to be present to the Holy Spirit at work around and through you. For some, this may sound goofy. Holy Spirit? But if you’ve made it this far into this column, hang on because when we come empty something happens: we can often do so much more than we come in with a plan.

I mentioned the firefighter. She isn’t clueless in the scene. Her training serves her well. No, she may not know exactly what steps she will need to take in the next five or fifty minutes, but she does have experience in the steps she’s taken in similar situations.

Just love. Speak love. Be love. But do this only after you act on it. It’s time to show up, be sensitive, and be present. It’s time to be used not by your will, but God’s. Our nation, and our neighborhoods, need this.

Walk with grace and Jesus who loves through you. He’ll guide you in what to say, and, more importantly, in what to do. You’ll know the words in this column are true only after “it” happens—not before.