More DNA II

It's kind of frustrating that Jesus said love will let people know you have Jesus-DNA, it would be simpler if it was a hat, or a spiffy salute or something. I could do those on my own, and I'd know exactly what to do. Honestly, I'd rather do this on my own. But, if it's love, that means there has to be other people that you love. The thing is, if you have Jesus-DNA you can’t be by yourself, you have to have other people around to love, and that makes things complicated. Plus, figuring out what love looks like is sort of like herding cats, or pinning jello to a wall. What love looks like depends on where you are, and who you're talking to, and what year it is. Most of all, what love looks like depends on who you’re with, because love connects you to other people. And when there’s more than one person, everything is more complicated, including love. But there has to be more than one person for there to be love, so, I guess love is pretty complicated. Jesus seemed to think so anyway. But then sometimes he thought it was pretty simple.

Knowing love is the thing that lets people know you have Jesus-DNA isn't very specific direction. In fact it leaves a whole lot of un-specifics. As much as we wish he had, Jesus just didn't give us the specifics of what his love inside of us would look like as we lived out our day to day lives. He didn't say anything about Bluetooth, or clocks, or what kind of car to drive, he didn't mention McDonalds, or P2P networks, or if Kraft Cheese is okay. In fact he said dangerously unspecific things like, "love each other," and "love your neighbor as yourself," and "love others more than yourself." Maybe that's why Paul, who had Jesus-DNA, said, following Jesus meant "working out" your faith, every day. We have to figure out, every single day, what it means to have Jesus-DNA inside of us. It sounds like a lot of work. I would just as soon not do it, but Jesus said we have to.The good news is that even though people have a hard time saying specifically what love looks like, everyone knows love when they see it. They don't even need a lesson in greek about eros or philia or storgé or agápe. They know real love when they see it because God made love the air that our souls breathe.

If you are someone who’s never seen real love before, it’s like you’re underwater for a long time without breathing, knowing you need something, but you can't find it. Then someone pushes you to the surface, and your soul just knows it's found what it needs. Your first breath of real love, Divine love is like that first gasp on the surface, no one has to tell you what to do, no one has to tell you this is what you need. I think that's the kind of love Jesus is talking about. I think that’s the kind of love he wants us to give to others, the kind that lets their soul breathe, that leaves them gasping for more.

It’s odd, but God made us—the ones with Jesus-DNA inside—so we provide the air of Divine love to each other. We all need each other for our souls to have divine love to breathe. It’s kind of weird, I know, but that’s how God set it up. So we have to figure out ways, every day, to push each other to the surface, so our souls can breathe.

We also provide the air of Divine love to people who’ve never breathed it. We have to figure out ways, every day, to draw them to the surface, to help them find the thing they know they need, but haven’t found. It seems like a lot to do everyday. But like I said before, Jesus says we have to.