What Separates Us?
November 8, 2011
What seperates us from animals? Regardless of how you choose to classify species, it's hard to deny that we are different than the rest of the creatures around us. Running. Animals run to catch food and not be food. Humans run for sport, exercise, and... sometimes to catch food, if the truck is driving away. In running, we defy our natural instincts. Our body tells us "stop" through muscle soreness or difficulty breathing, but something in our mind tells us "keep going". By all physical evidence this is insanity. We are gaining nothing tangible in the moment, no physical reward other than getting better at the task we are doing. As humans we have an ability animals never posses, to overide our natural instincts for the knowledge of a better reward.
In Matthew 5:44-45 Jesus says, "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."
Our human instinct is for revenge. Sometimes it's physical, "he hit me. I am going to hit him harder," but most often it's more complicated. Somone just rubs you the wrong way so you avoid them, or talk about them with others. Someone hurt you, whether intentionally or by accident, and you won't stop until you are even. That is natural, and just like any wild animal, that is where our "human" nature tells us to stop. This is where something in our spirit tells us, "keep going". Keep loving, keep forgiving, keep sharing.
We have every right to stop running because it hurts. We tell our selves the same thing with love. If someone who follows Jesus is to seperate themselves from a person who does not, this is a great place to start. As a human, I have authority over the desires of my body. I can tell myself to run farther, or to get back up. As God, he has authority over the desires of my heart. He can tell me to love beyond those whom I "like", and he can tell me to forgive when I have every right not too. This is what seperates us.
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