“God loves human beings. God loves the world.
Not an ideal human, but human beings as they are;
not an ideal world, but the real world.
What we find repulsive in their opposition to God,
what we shrink back from with pain and hostility...
this is for God the ground of unfathomable love.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
There is nothing more destructive to real love than ideal love. It is easy to love a sentimental version of humanity, or the people around us, but that is just a distraction, a projection of our own ego.
True love- the kind we see in Christ, loves people as they are, not as we wish they would be. It is hard work, but in giving ourselves to that work, there is hope that we can receive the same love from God for ourselves. This love is not a means to an end; It is a direct and immediate participation in Christ’s invitation to a flourishing life.
Question:
Who are the real people God has put in your life? What will it mean to love them as they are, today?
