Loving others

 

I’ve been thinking about the shootings in New Zealand on and off since hearing the news.  I didn’t see the headlines right away.  I hadn’t been on my phone much and had been out in the community.  An entirely Muslim community.  I don’t know if the news had reached them yet or not, but if it had, they didn’t let on.  Instead, they invited a group of Christians into their homes.  They served us coffee and we talked.  

Our pastor has been preaching out of 1 John recently and I was thinking about the Christian love we are called to share.  The focus of 1 John is primarily targeting how Christians are called to treat other Christians and I don’t want to take those verses out of context and apply them to the love we should share to unbelievers.  How many times do we really show a Christ like love for others? 

What about the love to show to people of other faith?  We are called to be fishers of men.  How can we attract people to a God of love if they do not see this love?  How will they see the transforming power of Christ in their lives if they don’t desire anything about our lives?  Christ sat and shared with the woman at the well.  He demonstrated his love for her, despite how society labeled her.  He also told her that her beliefs were wrong and corrected the theology.  

As we’ve shared with Muslims a lot of them have shared some of the myths they’ve heard about Christianity.  Some of them theological, others cultural.  And yet, they still welcomed us in.  They still sat and listened to the stories we shared.  We don’t pretend to share their faith.  And they don’t pretend to share ours.  Some of them are seeing Christ’s love through us though and are drawn to it.  

I don’t agree with the false teachings of those who died in New Zealand.  But I don’t want for them a Christ-less eternity either.  I don’t want to see their lives ended.  I want to see their eyes opened to the True Word of God.  Since hearing the news though I’ve wondered… how many Christians do I know who would have opened their homes up to Muslims?  

We’ve been told by people in churches that they would be happy with Muslim nations being bombed.  They may not have pulled the trigger, but their hearts were in the same place.  As a human being and as a Christian, I am appalled at this response.  I’m heartbroken by senseless violence but especially sickened when hatred is linked to Christianity because of comments like these.  We are called not to hatred, but to go, and love.  Sometimes I wonder how many more are thinking it, but not voicing these same sentiments.

How are you sharing God’s love with an unbelieving world?  Is your witness drawing people to Christ?   What are you doing to overcome the evil in the world?

 

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hedge of Protection

Image
  With school starting up we've been lifting up the girls in specific ways.  We've been praying for strength and endurance for H with her foot, listening ears and obedience for V and for M, courage and friendships.  We've prayed a hedge of protection over them as we've sent them off on their own out into the world.  We've especially prayed for a hedge of protection over M as she's transitioning from being homeschooled to attending 7th grade at the local middle school.   God answered our prayers quickly and literally.   After the first day of school we were winding down the evening with H, V and I in the bedroom and Tommy and M in the living room.  He'd just asked her to walk the dog and she was stalling- thankfully.  Shortly after he asked her, there was a flash of color through the window and then a loud crash.  I don't know exactly how it happened, but the short of it is our neighbor backed up over the sidewalk breaking the handrail and cra...
Read more

Part 2- The World divided

Part 2 The World divided The rush to suddenly stop welcoming refugees who only a few months ago were being welcomed with open arms is making my head spin. Can we guarantee that all refugees will be law abiding residents? No. They undergo vigorous interviews and background checks, but there is no way to give people 100% assurance. Can we guarantee that all U.S. born citizens will grow up to become law abiding residents? No. There are untold things that will influence them. There are no guarantees that our citizens won’t leave and join terrorist extremist groups, then return and carry out mass killings. There are no guarantees that our citizens won’t stay and carry out mass killings as lone gunmen. The bottom line is we don’t have any guarantees in this life. We never have. We never will. We are called to love despite these uncertainties. NAS Hebrews 13:1 Let love of the brethren continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have ent...
Read more

.....aaaannnndddd cut!

Image
I’ve heard that Atlanta is the new Hollywood, but until now I’ve been living in my international/mom bubble. Recently though the two merged. An episode of 24 was filmed next door to some GFM property, so the girls and I took a field trip to check everything out. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t a whole lot to see. There were a couple of huge semi’s full of equipment blocking our apartment complex and some lighting rigs, but all the action was inside a house in the neighborhood. We could tell there was stuff happening, but I honestly have no idea what the episode will entail. We won’t know right away either. The show will air sometime in February… for now it’s undergoing the editing process. Two days of filming and four months of editing seems like a lot of work for a one hour show (45 minutes once you factor in commercials). Do we allow God to work on us from the inside, editing (or pruning) us? At times it can be difficult. We’ve put work in, only to have it trimmed...
Read more