There’s a saying from my childhood that pops into my head every once in awhile: “God don’t like ugly.”
It was said at times when emotions ran high and mouths ran unfiltered. My parents preferred to put a more positive spin on it, reminding me of Jesus’ greatest commandments: “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul and mind,” the first and greatest of the two, and “Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.” These two commandments lay the foundation for Jesus’ teachings. In fact, they are so important they appear almost verbatim in two gospels, Matthew and Mark.
Sometimes I wonder, with the political division that seems so prevalent at home and in Washington, D.C., if it’s a matter of folks forgetting the commandments as Christ gave them, or if they’re just so unable to love themselves that in following the commandments, they are projecting their own insecurities onto their neighbors.
There is a difference between self-love and pride. It is possible to love oneself and remain humble and giving in a life of service. There are lots of great examples of this within our local community — immediately, I’m calling to mind a good friend who is a musician and who is so dedicated to living a life of service to others and to God that, when he suffered a recent injury that required him to depend on a little help from his family and friends, he struggled with it, because his is a life of service to others. And even as he struggled, he looked for the message in the trial, the answer to the question, “How can I better serve?”
Now the thing about it that I really want to emphasize here, is this man, while a close friend of mine, disagrees with me vehemently on occasion about the differences in the ways we read the Word of God for ourselves. And even when he disagrees with me, I never, ever question his love for God or for me.
Put another way: He loves God so much that he will defend his faith in Him at all costs, and he loves his neighbor so much that he seeks to bring her closer to God, even in disagreement.
He doesn’t proselytize. He doesn’t spout hellfire and brimstone.
He disagrees calmly, explains his reasoning and conviction, and he gives me a hug and thanks me for the conversation. Then he picks up his guitar and plays beautiful music and everything is exactly as it was before.
But what I see all too often looks a lot differently. Keyboard warriors who, instead of reaching out in faith and love to welcome the lost sheep into the flock (Luke 15), lash out angrily on social media or even in real life, in anger or mockery, showing that ugliness that I was always told God don’t like.
If the fundamental core goal of those who practice Christianity is to be like Christ, then perhaps we should revisit Matthew 25:40-46 (paraphrased and condensed):
“Truly, I say to you, as you have done it for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you have done it for me,” Christ says, while seated on his throne of glory at the time it comes to judge the nations. Then he turns to curse those who did not give him food when he was hungry, nor drink when he was thirsty, nor shelter when he had none, nor clothing when he was naked, nor comfort and company when he was in prison.
The cursed in shocked response say, “But Lord, when did we see you suffering? When did we see you suffering and not help you?”
To which Jesus answers, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it not for the least of one of these, you did it not for me.” And then they spend the rest of eternity suffering, while those who follow the second of the greatest two commandments are blessed with eternal life.
God don’t like ugly.
God doesn’t like it when we judge each other for Him — that’s His job. Our job is to love and guide — and I am not about to say, “Hate the sin, love the sinner,” because as well intended as that thought is, it puts the emphasis in the wrong place.
Love the sinner.
Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.
And if you don’t love yourself very much, spend your time with people who can love you enough to show you why you’re worth loving. Because I promise you are — God just simply don’t make ugly.
Ugly is a choice and it’s one you can decline.
We are entering into what looks like it will be a tumultuous time in politics and the 24-hour news cycle — as though it hasn’t already been — and the best way to fight back the darkness is to let your own light shine. Let your love be your light.
