Of Paradigms and Danger

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We live in a dangerous world.  I’ve known this for a while now, but it has only recently become more obvious to me:  two months ago my wife and I were blessed with a beautiful baby girl.  Now I notice danger everywhere.  It’s amazing how quickly my perception of the world and all its dangers changed.  In the past I wouldn’t think twice about crossing a busy street.  Now I patiently wait at the traffic lights for the little green man to appear before looking both ways, before crossing the road. 
Did the world change?  No.  I did.  Or at least my perception of the world did.  This, in turn, influenced the way I act in and react to the world.
Isn’t this what Jesus calls us to do in John 13:34-35?  Read it.  He tells His disciples to love one another as He loved them.  The same applies to us, because He has loved us in the same way He has loved His disciples and the rest of humanity.  What does this mean for us, though?  Love one another as Jesus loves us…
Two things jump to mind. 
Firstly, I think, that this doesn’t mean the world has changed, all of a sudden, to make it easier for us to love one another.  The same rules apply.  When we drop an apple, it still falls to the ground.  When we’ve overslept, we’re still late for work.  When we love someone and they don’t acknowledge it, it still hurts… 
It’s not the world that changes when we realise we’re loved.  It’s us.  Or at least the way we see the world and its people.  That, in turn, influences (or it should) the way we act in and react to the world and its people.  Looking at the world through the spectacles of love changes the way we see it and those in it.
Secondly, I believe, it calls for a whole new paradigm.  Not just a paradigm shift, or a broadening of horizons, but a whole new paradigm.  He gives us a new commandment.  A new way of thinking, perceiving and interacting with the world. 
Think about it.  We are called to love one another as Christ loved us.  How did He love us?  He loved us with an otherworldly kind of love, the likes of which has never been fully revealed in a human being until He walked the earth.  This isn’t the earthly kind of love we work so hard at.  It’s a whole new, unknown level of love.  One that will never fit into any paradigm we can come with.  We need to change.  It takes a loving God’s love to love an unloving world.

And who knows?  Maybe, when we’ve been changed by His love enough, the world might change for the better too.

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