Love Yourself in Quarantine - Don't

Excerpts from “The Right Fight: How to Live a Loving Life” by John Kennedy Vaughan

We Are Not Locked in Our Fearful Choices

“Every time we make a choice to act, either in fear or in love, our actions define us at that moment.

“If we choose to act in anger, then our anger defines us in that moment. If we feel angry but do not act on that anger, then our anger does not have to define us at that moment.

“If we choose to act in love and show kindness, no matter how we feel, we are defined as kind in that moment.

“Our choices and actions result in consequences that often outwardly define us and pose limits to our lives, but the choices and actions we have made and will make don’t indelibly lock in our identities.

“When our hearts change and our actions change, what defines us in that moment changes, for better or worse. We each find our purest identity and our value in Jesus. I think Jesus defines us as all equal, all worthy of His dying on a cross. Not one of us is so much as a tiny bit more or less valuable than another. He loves us all unconditionally. He hates our sin, but He loves us; and, more than anything else, all of us want to be loved.

If we get this fundamental belief wrong and live with a misdirected sense of identity, we are broken at our cores. Only the truth can ever fix us—nothing more, nothing less. If we believe we are even slightly less valuable than anyone else, we are broken. We excuse ourselves from acting on love and loving, because we think our love and our actions don’t matter to anyone; but that mentality leads to a life of fruitlessness.

“Fear always protects itself without regard for the truth or others.

“Love always defends the truth and others without regard for itself. … Saying something hurtful could only take a moment, but the weight of those words could last a lifetime. … Love always seeks the truth, but the truth is almost always hidden. … The only person I could ever lovingly sacrifice [is] myself.

“People will forget what you say, and they may even forget what you do, but they seldom forget how you make them feel. It is extremely difficult to live lovingly, but it is easy to recognize a loving sacrifice when we see it.”

The coronavirus respects no demographics. Neither does fear. We can catch fear from others, if we are exposed to it, as easily as we might catch COVID-19 from exposure.

Likewise, love respects no demographics. We can catch love from others, if we are exposed enough to it, as easily as we might catch the coronavirus, from exposure.

What we learn from this pandemic will influence the rest of our lives and the lives of our loved ones. What we learn is not confined to numbers, like the number of positive tests and the count of fatalities. We are also learning to love better, or fear better.

We practice love: patience, kindness, truth, protecting others, trust, hope, and perseverance. Or we practice fear with its envy, boastfulness, pride, rudeness, self-seeking, anger, unforgiveness and delight in evil.

The Bible tells us perfect love casts out fear. We can cast fear out of our hearts and out of our homes, as we live out this pandemic.

Focusing on giving your fears to God, and, as you pace restlessly through the halls and rooms of your homes, strive to see others as God sees them, and show to them His unconditional love. In this, we find the victories.

Shelter in place in love, not trapped in fear. Fear gives us no safety or shelter.

No better time or circumstance in which to say to you to be encouraged, and “Keep your eyes on the horizon!”

Laus Deo,

Kenny