Learning to love outside of our comfort zone
One of the things that marked Jesus out as different was the social complexity of his relationships. As he interacted at the face-to-face level, his list of friends became socially awesome: Pharisees, tax-collectors, prostitutes, tradesmen, rich men, poor people, lepers, the blind, even the dead! So I ask myself if I could relate effectively to such a wide range of people types.
Love is a respecter of persons
God, who so loved the world, has unbelievably given us that same love through the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:5) I like to measure the effectiveness of that gift in me by my ability to relate as a Christian to all kinds of people. Do I avoid certain types of people that God somehow can love? The apostle Paul expressed it this way: [bible]For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win the more'[/bible]. (1 Corinthians 9:19-22) Jesus stated the Son of Man came to serve.' (Mark 10:45) The first step to loving as a servant is to find something in each person that you can respect.
Looking beyond the façade
What did Jesus see in Zacchaeus the tax collector? Did he preach at him, lecture him, deride him? No, he invited himself to stay at his house. What did Jesus see in the adulterous woman? I am convinced that what struck them both about Jesus was the way he looked through their outer façade of sins to the inner person open to divine love. When we meet people we easily get bogged down with externals - appearance, speech, mannerisms, smells, and can fail to look deeper into the real person within.
We know when we are loved
In the school in which I teach, the children in the classes below tell me they want to be in my class. Even though I am very strict, they know that I like them. This intuitive ability to sense love is I believe in all people but gets lost in our unspiritual world obsessed with the outward - appearance, words, manners. When someone becomes a Christian God's love is revealed to their heart - the divine encounter in the inward person that turns them away from sin. When Paul became all things to all men he was leaving his comfort zone and relating to all kinds of people to be an ambassador of God's love.
"Lord make me an ambassador of God's love - one who looks into the real hearts of people however different to me they may be."
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Author: 4micah68
Location: Daventry United Kingdom
Gender: Male
Age: 60
Blog Entries: 21 (archive)
Blog Comments: 4
i am half-italian genetically but british by nationality. i was brought up in a quiet english village. i was able to go to a selective school so left all my childhood friends and learned to engage myself in my own company. my horizons widened at university especially meeting people of...
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i became a christian in 1966 when i was 17 through the influence of a christian youth group. i did not have a christian home and so church influence was very important for me. at university i experienced the holy spirit in a new way which was a revolution at...
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