"If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor." - John 12:26
Mark 12:28-31
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Love God, love others! Treat others as you want to be treated.
Simple to understand, right? Not always easy to do.
Jesus was not only the example but we were also given the power to obey that command. Yet we often don't, or at least don't without agendas or motives.
Case and point: who is easier to love and or see in a positive light?
The rich, generous contributor to a charity OR a homeless beggar by the interstate ramp?
The Bible study leader in your church or the youth in your church who just came out as gay?
The mom who has it all together and always has good answers or the mom who is frazzled, looks unkempt and has a potty mouth sometimes? The rich business owner or the immigrant who can only speak Spanish?
Yet too often this is what many humans do......
“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.”
― Paul Farmer
― Paul Farmer
We are called to love the lost, love those in our churches, communities, prisons, schools, those in our home, everywhere. Loving our neighbors means we show love to anyone and everyone, no matter what their sins are. No matter their past. No matter their lifestyle. No matter if they get any government assistance or not. No matter their political vote. No matter pro-life or pro-choice. Grace saved us, so why can't we show grace?
Tough pill to swallow sometimes but God loves us first, even with our past sins, present sins and future sins.
So should we..... However that would not absolve us or them of consequences. Just because they and you face consequences for decisions made, that does not mean that we should not be loved and love others both before, during and after.
When churches spend so much time preaching about who shouldn't be among them, it ostracizes everyone.
We have gotten to the point in modern churches now where divorce and remarriage is overlooked yet someone who doesn't dress, look or have the same social status as others in the pews gets more judged, we have a problem. When we are okay with reading Fifty Shades of Gray but complain about how our children dress, we have a problem. When we turn the other cheek to bullying or worse, encourage our children to be mean, we have a problem. When we are okay with leaving people out in the cold (or heat) because they "don't belong" than we are no better than the rest of the world, and in fact worse.
Someone I know recently got sent an anonymous letter saying he was "loving people straight to hell" because he shows love to sinners. Um..... Isn't that what Jesus did? Show love to sinners? They were being loved straight to hell too till Jesus forgave them. I think they forget what Jesus had done during his ministry years and most especially why he was on the cross! Seesh..... At least that person is bringing Christ to those who most would otherwise wash their hands of..... Many have washed their hands of me yet I'm better for it. People can disagree or agree with the choices others make without spewing hate about it....
Is it any wonder so many take the wide gate? Why should those who see Christians be like this to others, want to be a part of that? Why would they want to follow Jesus when they see those who say they follow Christ, treat their neighbors like that?
Someone I know recently got sent an anonymous letter saying he was "loving people straight to hell" because he shows love to sinners. Um..... Isn't that what Jesus did? Show love to sinners? They were being loved straight to hell too till Jesus forgave them. I think they forget what Jesus had done during his ministry years and most especially why he was on the cross! Seesh..... At least that person is bringing Christ to those who most would otherwise wash their hands of..... Many have washed their hands of me yet I'm better for it. People can disagree or agree with the choices others make without spewing hate about it....
Is it any wonder so many take the wide gate? Why should those who see Christians be like this to others, want to be a part of that? Why would they want to follow Jesus when they see those who say they follow Christ, treat their neighbors like that?
So let's talk more about this. Recently there has been a photo all over the news of a father and daughter who drowned in the Rio Grande...... The comments I have seen and heard have been polarized. Either sympathy or disregard. People who feel sorry for the family or those who say they should have never come anyway so they deserved death. No joke..... Go onto social media and see the comment sections....
What's going on at these camps is incomprehensible and a pathetic example of what we should be. Yet if the example of how this country and many of its citizens are okay with how the homeless, poor, veterans, and "outcasts" get treated, this sadly isn't surprising to see in what should be the largest "Christian" nation in the world!
Yet the flip side is how do we honestly help? This country can't even help itself, let alone others. Prayer is one way but prayer isn't the answer alone.
Praying about something you know needs intervention somehow is simply having the ability to say you "did something" when in reality you want someone or something else to do the work.
Seriously!!
So now what? Just let the media continue to outrage us, desensitize us and then we justify that we can't do anything about anything going on in the world so why bother? "Thoughts and prayers" mentality only?
Did the Bible say "Just pray and let someone else do that" or not? NO! The Bible said to GO AND DO the will of God.
So is God's will for those to suffer? To be homeless? To be abused? To have medical diagnoses that need to be treated? Invisible illness? Mental illness? To be thrown into camps just to be treated worse than those in prison? To be ostracized simply because they don't fit into a cookie cutter clique?
No. However, we have let the following become the norm, and it shouldn't be.
"We are all socialized into systems that oppress.
We learn to accept oppression as normal.
We are born into a social system which teaches us to accept things as they are.
We are rewarded for accepting things as they are.
We are congratulated for accepting things as they are.
We become “model members of society” when we accept things as they are.
We gain comfort, money, connections and power when we accept things as they are. People who go against the grain, pay the price.
I know [there’s] a tiny voice deep in your heart is saying “I do not oppress people.”
That might be true, you may not actively oppress others- but here is the reality- oppression is still happening, because this cycle and the systems they support continue to run uninterrupted.
Oppression is the norm, not the exception.
Justice is the exception, not the norm.
Institutions influence individuals and individuals influence institutions.
This process is pervasive, consistent, circular, self-perpetuating, and invisible.
The simplest thing to do is nothing.
But we have failed to realize that we have become participants in our own oppression by doing nothing.
Will you take responsibility for the oppression that continues? Will you stand up and confront the systems, rules, and norms?
How, where, and when you confront injustice is irrelevant, as long as you do it.
You and I are responsible for interrupting oppression. We are responsible for dismantling it. We are responsible for creating new systems and ways to share social power.
Society will not transform itself. We have to break the chains.
We all have to pay the price, so that can happen.
Let’s get to work y’all, because freedom ain’t free."
~ Desiree Adaway ~
Let's quit being a buffet where people pick and choose what they want to heed and not heed and take this as a full course meal as it should be. No more scraps for those "less than worthy" lest you take the scraps and those "less than worthy" get the full meal.
Matthew 25:31-46
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Let's do something. Let's get over ourselves, talk to people and do something. Walk the walk.
~ Special Momma ~
