A New Year

I have to admit, I absolutely love this picture. I found this on Greg Boyd's blog, a pastor in Minnesota, a few weeks back. It shows Jesus washing the feet of Osama Bin Ladin, who is right next to the world's major leaders, including President Bush. Its so easy to hate a man as evil as Bin Ladin. Don't get me wrong, I do not like him and I think the world would be safer without him. However, I was reminded of something today. My Dad has started a blog that is reading through the Bible in three years starting today. He has asked his church to read along with him while sharing their insights about the particular chapter being read as well. Today's chapter was Genesis 1, the creation account. Genesis 1 is such a beautiful, poetic account of the way God created the world. In it we are taught that God created humanity in his own image, male and female he created them. God created us. We, as humans, reflect God in the world as his creation. We all are fallen, we know that in chapter 3 of Genesis. But I love that the Bible doesn't start with the fall. It starts with the beautiful poetry of how God created the world, and the perfect rhythm that the world was in when God created it. Jesus came to restore us to that rhythm. One of the things he wants us to do in part of the restoration of the world is to love our enemies. I think this ties back into creation. We are all apart of humanity, all loved by God. In Christ's kingdom how you conquer enemies is not by forceful violence, but by loving service. It is through a towel and not a sword. What a great reminder this picture is. This year, let's show Christ-like love not only to our friends and family, but also our enemies.