What would Jesus do?

Today I arrived early at the office to get some tasks done. One of the tasks on my "to do" list is to deliver a letter to an unsavoury character banning him from Space2B.  At one level it runs against the inclusive Spirit of Jesus, so I find it difficult to do. It is like accepting defeat in the struggle of love against evil. My theory is that love overcomes evil, but this feels like I am denying that. But I have to protect other people and the atmosphere of Space2B from this guy. Maybe it is tough love? I typed up this meditation on Psalm 56 by Lesley Brandt for worship sometime soon. It is kind of how I feel lately. I share it with you.

O God, I have tried incessantly

to transmit Your love to people about me.

I shared my possessions;

I gave my time;

I used your gifts given to me to support,

To help, and to bless others

who were in need.

But I feel as if I have been used, O God.

People have wiped their feet on me.

They take what I have to offer and then go on their way,

totally oblivious to my problems and pains.

They act as if I were in debt to them –

as if it were my duty to share myself with them.

But even as I groan in complaint, O Lord,

I know that it is Your course for me.

Even as they use You, so they will use me.

Truly, O God, I have nothing to lose,

For it is in losing that I truly find

that which is of everlasting value.

You are aware of my frustrations,

my feelings of emptiness and loneliness.

You have promised to replenish my vessel,

to make me a channel for Your eternal springs.

I am in debt, O Lord,

to suffering humanity about me.

I must be emptied again and again –

only to be filled from your boundless resources

and then to pour out once more

Your blessings upon those in need.

You have delivered me from the wasteland of need.

Therefore I dedicate myself anew

to the task of channeling Your gifts

to the parched lives of others.

(Leslie Brandt’s meditation on Psalm 56.)