"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed." Carl Jung
We must do more than simply find Jesus, we must meet Him. If we do we will be transformed by our meeting just as we will transform those we meet after.
Jesus said the two greatest commandments were to love God with all your strength and all your mind and the second is like it which is to love our neighbor as ourselves. He also said all the law and all the prophets hang on those two commandments. He also taught us to love our enemies.
Jesus also prayed for the forgiveness of His executioners.
That kind of love has transformed billions of lives over the last 20 centuries. And it continues to transform so many more today.
Jesus transforms us through His love and the resulting Christlike character is to me what salvation is really about. Salvation is not a far off destination but it is a state of being. It's responding to vile hatred with unconditional love and spreading that salvation to our enemies.
"I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends." Abraham Lincoln
This tactic does not work every time but it does work even when all hope seems lost just ask Gandhi. He was able to spawn a revolution against Britian successfully without violence. And even if we lose in peace is that not better than winning in hate or war?
Jesus saved an adulteress by saying "He who is without sin may cast the first stone." Then He refused to condemn her but instead He simply said Go and sin no more. He offered her love, understanding and compassion and forgiveness instead of scorn or condemnation. He was the only one in that group who could have cast a stone yet He did not. Why was that? Who are we to cast stones in light of that?
Jesus transformed the lives of everyone He met with His compassion and understanding. He didn't just preach the message He was the message. Because he lived the message His teachings weild much power even two thousand years later.
Being transformed by Christ's love, His example and His message means that even when the world is falling down around us we are at peace, it means we forgive our own murderers, we forgive and we love and we understand the hatred or weaknesses of others and rather than amplify the gate we respond with love. Rather than amplify the weaknesses of others we mitigate them with compassion and understanding.
If we come to meet Jesus and feel His spirit from within we become transformed ad Dr.King or Gandhi did and we can make as much of an impact as did they.
Salvation isn't just a destination, it's a way of life and it's what happens to us and those around us when we allow ourselves to be transformed by Christ.
