{"id":40102,"date":"2026-08-02T01:44:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T06:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/?p=40102"},"modified":"2026-08-02T02:07:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T07:07:30","slug":"i-struggle-to-reflect-warm-love-instead-of-the-worlds-cold-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/?p=40102","title":{"rendered":"I struggle to reflect warm love instead of the world\u2019s cold fear"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m still looking for my place in this world.<\/p>\n

In reality, though, I\u2019m trapped between two worlds. I was born into a flesh-and-blood world which is ruled by a mindless culture which feels cold and indifferent at best, angry and evil at worst. At times, I glimpse another world \u2014 a world in which love and decency and compassion lead us to connection with a creator who is often hidden.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a part of both worlds, but I want to live more and more in the world of the spirit. More in the world of love. More in the world of this creator spirit who I know as God.<\/p>\n

There are times when I want to rage against the dysfunction and the evil of what modern popular culture has become. That\u2019s partly because what I see seems so wrong, but it\u2019s partly because being immersed in that culture keeps us from seeing the spirit world.<\/p>\n

So there are times when I\u2019m angry about the world in which I\u2019m living, when I\u2019m filled with confusion and hurt and outrage about what we have created.<\/p>\n

But this is not one of those times.<\/p>\n

Tonight, I am filled with a love that is far beyond my own ability to fathom. I\u2019m filled with the desire to touch the face of a God who I know is there. I\u2019m filled with the need to express a boundless love \u2014 an expression of the loving spirit who made me.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ll be clear. This isn\u2019t about religion. It\u2019s not about any specific theology. I have nothing to sell you here \u2014 not even the things I believe are true.<\/p>\n

I could dress this up in flowery religious language that reflects my own faith. People who already agree with me would like that. I know how to reflect my own Christian culture and the Southern Baptist subculture in which I grew up.<\/p>\n

But what I’m talking about isn’t about copying that culture, because the culture I see inside modern churches is just as off-course as what I see in the mainstream culture. What I’m talking about here is far more fundamental to the difference between this physical world and that spiritual world.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m saying here is more about the Sermon on the Mount than it is about Paul\u2019s Roman Road, to put it into a theological context.<\/p>\n

When I’m able to keep my heart focused on that other world \u2014 and when I can allow my behavior to reflect that love \u2014 I am a different person. I become the man who I was created to be.<\/p>\n

When I move through this physical world \u2014 bathed in the dysfunction of our culture \u2014 I want to tell others how to fix things. I want to point out all the terrible things I see. I want to ask my fellow Christians to be more loving to our enemies, as Jesus ordered us to do. I want to beg people to be kinder and gentler to the people around them.<\/p>\n

But when I do feel love in my heart \u2014 in the way I do tonight \u2014 I know better.<\/p>\n

I’m the only one who I can control. I’m the only one I’m responsible for. I’m the only one who I have any right to lecture.<\/p>\n

When I feel the way I do right now, I feel as though I can love others. I feel as though I have blinders on and I can stop \u2014 at least for a moment \u2014 worrying about things I can’t change.<\/p>\n

When Jesus told his followers to love others and take care of people who have needs, he didn’t add a footnote giving me authority to force others to behave as I think they should. And when I feel as though my heart is full of the love that my God wants me to have for everyone, I know where my focus should be.<\/p>\n

I need to keep my eyes on the world beyond this one. I need to keep my heart softened and open to divine love. To see the state of the culture around us \u2014 and refuse to harden our hearts \u2014 is one of the most radical and loving decisions we’re called to make.<\/p>\n

When I focus on the flesh-and-blood world around me, I’m prone to feeling fear and anger and disdain for others. I know that’s not who I need to be. It’s not who I was created to be.<\/p>\n

I was made to love. I was made to connect \u2014 with the divine and with people around me, whether I think they “deserve” it or not.<\/p>\n

My feet are in a world where I have to live, but my heart needs to remain focused on a world where love is the common currency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m still looking for my place in this world. In reality, though, I\u2019m trapped between two worlds. I was born into a flesh-and-blood world which is ruled by a mindless culture which feels cold and indifferent at best, angry and evil at worst. At times, I glimpse another world \u2014 a world in which love Keep Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1x9iR-aqO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40102"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40119,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40102\/revisions\/40119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}