“It is as impossible to love the children of God without loving God as it is to love God without loving God’s children” (John Stott; 1 John 5:1-3). Within this reality we also find his command – “you must love one another.” Being obedient to God is an expression of love, and loving is the act of being obedient to God. Jesus said the greatest law was loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves. So, when the church talks about inclusion they are seeking to be obedient to God. Our command to love is an opportunity to share God’s love with all people, and we are not given the responsibility or right to say who we will be willing to share that love with. Honestly, from a discipleship standpoint, if you can imagine who you would not desire to share God’s love with, then that is the people (group, class, etc.) that God would desire you to share with. It’s about your growth in Christ and your voice to bring God’s love and acceptance into God’s world.
My staff challenged me to put my voice out past the local congregation with these devotional thoughts, so I connected these to my website; it is a little dated (content wise) but if you see the image on the main page you understand why I had to connect my voice to my act of obedient love. “Meliorism” the image says is “the belief that the world gets better. Belief that humans can change the world.” I believe that, but the way we change the world is through allegiance to God and in loving others (1 John 5:5). All are welcome, for all are created in the image of God.