Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people. Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. (NIV)

In 1966, Peter Scholtes, a Catholic priest living on the south side of Chicago was looking for just the right song for his youth choir to sing. The choir would be preforming at some ecumenical events where people with different beliefs and ethnic backgrounds would be gathering, and since he couldn’t find the right song, he wrote one. It became such a popular song that I learned it at Camp Cedar Glen in San Diego in the early 90s. He based the song on John 13:35: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” I think with all that’s going on in the world today, specifically as America approaches November 5^th, it would do us all some good to stand around a campfire and sing a few rounds of “They’ll Know We are Christians By Our Love.” Christians today are known for many things, but I wouldn’t say the top one is always for our love.

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I’ve been struggling to write this devotional this week because the answer to “How do we stand out in a politically polarized world?” seems simultaneously too difficult and too easy. I believe the answer is radical love. We must be known for acts of radical love, inspired by Jesus and all he did during his life with the most sacrificial act of love for humanity on the cross. But what does that look like for us today in 2024 as we seek to love and care for our neighbors, our family, the widows, orphans, and foreigners, as the Bible commands? One verse of that song says we should “guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride.” If we can hold on to the dignity of each person, that will be a good start. In the book of Philemon, we see the request from one believer to another for an act of radical love and forgiveness.

Paul was writing to Philemon to ask that he forgive his former slave, Onesimus, who had likely committed some crime and run away. Not only that, Paul entreats Philemon to accept Onesimus as a brother in Christ. Onesimus had escaped to where Paul was living at the time, given his life to following Jesus, and was now going back to set things right. What Paul was asking Philemon, a Roman citizen, to do was very countercultural. Someone could have argued it wasn’t right for Philemon to have to give up his slave for personal financial reasons. To take it even further, he could have been told, “Well, it’s not just this one slave, what if others hear of this and they will all wish to be freed and our economy as we know it collapses!”

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But Paul was appealing to a brother in Christ to set aside his rights and maybe even economic gains to bring this man into fellowship, not as a slave but as a brother. Christ set the standard for forgiving our enemies when he died for the very people who put him on the cross.  In our current times of political division and enmity we need to prioritize the connection over the contract and the people over the policies and the parties.  

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Paul said he could sort of boss Philemon into doing the right thing, but instead he would appeal to him “on the basis of love.” Love is the main thing, the core, the heart of the matter. Are you living a countercultural life in these tumultuous times because your heart posture is one of love? It’s so easy to write and so challenging to do. We must lead with love in our speech, social media posts, actions, reactions, and leading of others.  

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Romans 12:9 tell us that our “love must be sincere,” and we should “hate what is evil and cling to what is good.” Our witness for Christ depends on whether our foundation is Christ’s love or love for some idol, like a politician or political party. When we cross the street or the aisle or to the other side of a town hall meeting to connect with someone different than us, we are building that bridge that brings heaven to Earth. It breaks down walls and ushers in the Kingdom, where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, slave nor free.  

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If a brother or sister in Christ were to write you a letter this week, what might they ask you to do as an act of radical love? A conversation with a difficult family member? Driving someone from the other party to their polling place on Tuesday? Let’s spend a few minutes with Jesus this weekend, asking where we can be a witness for Christ with our radical love.

Jesus, we are crying out to you individually and collectively in this season of turmoil as the election is upon us. The mud-slinging, name-calling and hatred are not from you. Some of us are angry, some anxious, defeated or apathetic. Whatever the outcomes of our local, state and national elections, we know and trust that you are still sovereign over everything. Help us as believers to stand out in good ways for how we take positions of justice and disagree kindly with others. Let them know we are Christians by our love. May we always lead with your love. Amen.