Ya'll Get To Lovin' And Cherishin'

I John 3:18 -- ..."let us not love with word and with tongue but in deed and in truth."

No matter how many times we all sit in the quasi dark and watch the scene that plays out on the screen, we all start laughing. Sometimes, we even rewind the thing and watch the scene again - and of course, we all start laughing all over again as if watching the comedic genius of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones for the first time.

As this very odd couple barge in to a quiet family living room, do some magical turning of switches and knobs, they reveal a compartment hidden behind a wall that has been stock-piled with a mass array of impressive looking weapons. Our heroes are charged with saving the entire world from a powerful alien race. And they are on a tight dead line.

There are two very distinct and very different heroes grabbing at weird looking weapons that have been born in the imagination of some pretty impressive writers. One hero [played by Tommy Lee Jones] is a tried and true, "this is old hat" kind of veteran who has seen every kind of space alien known to man and is certainly acclimated to the scene playing out in front of them. The other hero [played by Will Smith] is experiencing his very first "rodeo" and is not shy about his exasperation, deep felt concern, and very human heart brimming over with troubled emotion and sentiment for the indigenous Earth species that he has heretofore dubbed his fellow man. It's an interesting and hilarious combination of personalities.

As they storm out with our poor and unsuspecting family stunned into an almost drooling and stone-frozen glazed look about them, Tommy Lee Jones sets about erasing their memories. They will not know this mis-matched pair of suit-wearing, battle-ready champions has been in their home. Now, prior to his partnership with Will Smith, the professional memory eraser that defines our Tommy Lee Jones character did just that, he erased memories. Will Smith, however insists that if they are going to take something away, they should use the opportunity to put something good back in. Ever the sentimental hero, Will Smith has a deep-rooted desire to implant a positive, if not sappy memory each and every time Tommy Lee Jones uses his amazing flash device to mess with the gray matter of oblivious homo sapiens. In this particular scene, knowing that man kind faces it's collective immanent demise and perhaps, aware of the truth in Will Smith's RE-direction,  Tommy Lee Jones includes the command:

"you will cherish and love each other for the rest of your lives."

With perfect comedic timing and in response to Tommy Lee Jones' instructions Will Smith adds:

"which could be the next 27 or 28 minutes, so y'all should get to lovin' and cherishin'."

Turning to go he spins back around and, as an afterthought, he includes a "P.S." to his recent verbal embellishment. Attention directed solely to the parents of this human equation of three family members he says:

"Oh, and she can stay up as late as she wants ...... and have cookies and candy and cakes and junk and stuff."

Fits of tear producing laughter are shared by all four Dalton Gang members and we set to rewind the scene just one more time. Naturally, this quote has been used often in our house-hold and usually becomes the suffix to almost any command, expression, or statement issued by Steven or I in an effort to make humorous an otherwise tense situation. For example: .... Tyler, you have yet to take the garbage out and feed the ducks. These things need to be done before you can play the X-box and junk and stuff.  Or:  Brian, have a good night at work, be careful, we love you and junk and stuff. 

Trust me, there is no end to the number of possible family scenarios to which this movie quote can be applied.

THAT, however, is not what started the churning of my own gray matter this morning as I read today's verse and thought back to this scene from Men In Black II. I am drawn to the contrast between our two heroes. I am drawn to the idea that you can command an emotion to be shared on que.

In the book of I John, we are instructed to love one another. Several times through out this book we are given examples of what true love REALLY is and a deeper dive into the depth and breadth of love is taken as the importance of real love is stressed by the author. There are two things that come to mind, here:

1. Emotions cannot be commanded. Emotions are experienced. Felt. Shared. But NOT     commanded. You could not say to a person - "feel sad right now. feel joy at the count of three. be ashamed. be sorry." No, ultimately, these things have to develop in the personal timing of each human being. Even actors can't snap their fingers and make these things happen - though they are pretty good at producing a reasonable facsimile.  And yet, here we have God's Living Word instructing us to LOVE on another. To ACT. To grant more than lip-service to a thing so very obviously important to our Savior. We are told to ACT love. BE love. 
2. Am I a Tommy Lee Jones or a Will Smith? Have I become so desensitized to the human condition that I can no longer inspire to really LOVE? Have I acclimated to the crisis and become so accustomed to the lack of belief that people have in Christ and in God, that - much like Tommy Lee Jones in the movie,  I no longer find the situation dire or worthy of panic?

The wheels were set to churning in my head this morning.

Am I a Tommy or a Will? Well, sadly, I think I'm most often a Tommy. In an average span of commercial time spaced in aggravating intervals that interrupt featured programming, we are bombarded by images designed to make us sympathetic. "Give of yourself to this ..... donate to that." I find myself blowing air out of puffed cheeks when the sappy "feed the children in this foreign country" ads start to play. It's not because I don't want the children in foreign countries to have food. It's because I think it might be good if we feed the starving children in our own back yard, first. So instead of being moved to meet a financial need, I roll my eyes and get up to refill my water bottle. Then an emotional face of a well-known singer comes into focus followed by big brown dopey eyes set deep into the emaciated face of a helpless baby animal. I don't WANT to leave the room. I HAVE to leave the room or I'll start throwing things at the television and may even lose what food I have in my stomach at the time. I HATE animal cruelty. The animals can't fend for themselves. They don't have voices and can't complain or tell of the pain they suffer at the cruel hands of someone they trust with their lives. It INFURIATES me! I HAVE to get away from those images.

So, sadly, I'm a Tommy Lee Jones character that has become somewhat desensitized to the plight of the human race. I don't sympathize when I should and am moved more deeply by the needs of animals than I am moved by the needs of humans. Why? I could argue that human beings have made the conscious decision to turn their backs on the Lord. That we, as a species, have deliberately chosen NOT to accept the grace of God and have, instead, chosen the life-style that is most lucrative, most comfortable, and most self-gratifying. However .... doesn't God know this even more than I do? Knowing this, He still commands us to love one another. To love in action. To do more than utter the words - to serve, to love in deed. 

..... which means ..... love - REAL love is NOT an emotion. It might inspire an array of emotions that morph through many forms of human sentiment, but the love that God mentions over and over again in His Word is NOT an emotion. If it were just a human emotion, God would not COMMAND us to DO it. He would not stress so often that the act of real love is THE first thing God puts on "children do" list. Nor would it have lead to the ultimate sacrifice, THE act of service when Jesus died for our sins on a cross that He could have incinerated with a call for lightning from the Heavens.

No. It comes to mind that LOVE is a deed. It's a moving, living thing with feet, with life, with the ability to bare fruit. Like fire that breaths and feeds - love is a thing that inspires cultivation, growth, and MOVEMENT.

Will Smith is moved by the needs and the pure HUMAN that is the race of man. Tommy Lee Jones is not at the beginning of the film. Or at least, it would appear that he is not. The actions and RE-actions of Will Smith's character leave a mark on his partner to the point that changes are made. Will Smith is graced with panic - motivated to save what he finds so endearing about this earth.

Isn't that what WE are told to do? Don our inner "black suits" and fancy earth defying weapons, strap on our courage and march forth into an unearthly battle that we cannot afford to lose? There is only one moment that matters - the next one. Fight instead of walk away - pull out the BIG GUNS and save the world from itself. From its complacency, from it's selfishness, and yes - from it's sin.

We have but one fight. We have but one chance -- and that is the life that we are in. LOVE when it seems too tough. LOVE when we don't feel like it. LOVE when I'm frustrated with man-kind, when I'm fighting with my spouse, when I'm tired of my children not doing when they are told, when I am angered by church politics. LOVE in deed and in truth.

It's NOT an emotion. It IS a commitment to Christ.