Grounded in love

        Many people might associate the idea of “being grounded” with thunderstorms and lightening in the heavens. My mother had a genuine fear of lightening and shrieked her way through many a storm. I would say I developed a healthy fear—well, maybe not entirely healthy—of how dangerous it could be out in a storm with those bold strikes of lightning roaring overhead. I learned that “being grounded” by a lightning rod or some such object could conduct the electricity in lightning into the ground and away from damaging a building or other structure. There wasn’t an absence of lightning and danger—just a protection from its potential harm.

        In today’s world, all kinds of things—ideas, beliefs, theories, isms—clamor for our attention and possible allegiance. People speak very confidently about their thinking on this or that controversial issue. Some march against or vehemently support opposite opinions about gun rights, abortion, gay marriage and many other issues. Cable news stations broadcast programs with people spouting all kinds of ideas and confident assertions, hour after hour, day after day.

        Like a house in a lightening storm, I think we need to be grounded by something that will protect us from the danger of believing just about anything we read or hear. If we believe in the authority of the Bible as the word of God, this would seem to be a way of being grounded. But even people who are familiar with the scriptures can pull various verses to support opposing viewpoints on social issues and understandings of God’s will in our lives. 

        I am reminded of what Paul wrote to the Ephesians in a prayer for them: “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to . . . know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17-19). The idea of being rooted and grounded in love seems to be a consistent theme throughout the Bible. The greatest commandments were not the ten written on stones but the simple instructions about love in both the new and old testaments. The exhortation was to love God and your neighbor as yourself. And the depth of this love required all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Only “in God” could such a love exist. God’s living presence within us can draw us toward this grounding love and away from what pulls on our emotional responses or human reasoning.

         Yes, we are often tempted to think and act in ways that depart from this love God calls us to be rooted and grounded in. But it is selfless love that should be the distinctive, steadying quality for Christians in any time at any place no matter what dangers flash overhead.