above ALL

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We are called over and over and over again to love.  We are told to love God, love our neighbor, love our enemy, love one another, love the aliens (people who are not native to the country they are living in...not extra-terrestrials!).  Husbands are to love their wives.  Love is an action not a feeling.  (Here are some verses about who we should love.)

7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Matthew 7:1-5

Jesus also reminds us that it is not our job to judge others.  Matthew Henry wrote this in his Bible Commentary: "We must judge ourselves, and judge of our own acts, but not make our word a law to everybody. We must not judge rashly, nor pass judgment upon our brother without any ground. We must not make the worst of people...It is as strange that a man can be in a sinful, miserable condition, and not be aware of it, as that a man should have a beam in his eye, and not consider it; but the god of this world blinds their minds. Here is a good rule for reprovers; first reform thyself."

We are all sinners.  We lie and gossip and cheat and covet.  We don't honor our husbands.  We slander our friends.  We exasperate our children!  But these fall into the "Minor Sin" category, right?  I mean, I didn't murder anyone!  I didn't commit adultery!

But in God's eyes, sin is sin.  That is why Jesus came for all of us.  He hung on the cross for me, not just murders or adulterers.  His love covers a multitude of sins.  But too often this is forgotten and we take it upon ourselves to classify certain sins as "Sinnier" than others.  And then we judge instead of remembering that "love covers a multitude of sins."

But you see, love forgives over and over again!  God forgives over and over again.  Jesus tells us to forgive over and over again.  During his years of ministry, we read over and over again about how Jesus loved the sinner.  He spent his days with them, loving them, pouring into them, and forgiving them.  It was the religious people who were judging the sinners that Jesus rebuked.  He loved the sinner.

A friend once told me when she gets to heaven, she's confident that she will be asked, "Did you love my people?"

Do I love those who God loves?

Do you?