Reality Check

Owe no one anything, except to love one another;

for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

~Romans 13:8

There is a very real danger of our drifting into an attitude of contempt for humanity. We know quite well that we have no right to do so, and that it would lead us into the most sterile relation to our fellow-men. The following thoughts may keep us from such a temptation. It means that we at once fall into the worst blunders of our opponents. The man who despises another will never be able to make anything of him. Nothing that we despise in the other man is entirely absent from ourselves. We often expect from others more than we are willing to do ourselves. Why have we hitherto though so intemperately about man and his frailty and temptability? We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer. The only profitable relationship to others – and especially to our weaker brethren – is one of love, and that means the will to hold fellowship with them. God himself did not despise humanity, but became man for men’s sake.  ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison

Dear Lord, help me to remember that only You know what is in the heart of man -- and that I cannot possibly know nor do I need to know, I only need to love as You love us.  Amen!