Do the Work!
Photo by A's Images
It’s too bad that life doesn’t come with the ability to change or reverse things with the press of a button. If there was, there’s no doubt that we all would take a chance at making some major adjustments and righting wrongs in our lives and in this crazy world we live in. In my last post, I talked about how community has been impacted by what’s currently going on in our world and the importance of each of us choosing not to allow it to hinder us from valuing the beauty of relationship with others.
I’d like to share a few of many examples of community displayed in the scriptures in hopes that this will encourage us all to shift our mentality about loving and serving one another.
What community is and isn’t.
I think it is important to begin by clarifying that community is not a one-sided transactional service project where we seek out an opportunity to serve those “less fortunate” and walk away proud of ourselves for making a difference as if we are superior to anyone. It is also not a social clique where we only gravitate to people just like us and shut out any opportunity to embrace the diversity that God so intentionally designed. Community is a lifestyle of relationship that involves real people doing real life together. The truth is, we all need one another. No one person has it all. What one lacks, another possesses. This vulnerability and humility allows us to learn from others no matter who they are. Community is most fruitful and glorifying to God when selfless people come together because everyone benefits.
1 Corinthians 10:24: “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.”
Romans 15:2-3 : “Each one of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself.”
Jesus could have rightfully chosen to descend upon us in all His glory and splendor, boasting in Himself and flaunting all of his power. But instead, He took the humble position of a servant in human form, born of a woman in an environment far from luxurious. Not only that, He didn’t come with His own agenda, but submitted Himself to God his Father with the mission to defeat the power of sin and death by sacrificing His own life. During His ministry on Earth, He welcomed all. He touched the untouchable and embraced the outcast because He genuinely loved and valued them, not for accolades and photo ops. We would do good to follow His example.
Embrace diversity.
I mentioned that God intentionally designed diversity in this world He created. Aren’t you glad? God could have given us a dull black and white template for a world, with one type of food to sustain us for our entire lives, and one human prototype cloned over and over again so everyone looks and thinks exactly the same. BORING. Instead, we are surrounded by color and options. Innumerable plants, creatures, and world wonders that could never fully be discovered in a lifetime. He did that, and He did it for us to enjoy and glorify Him. For that we should be in awe and thankful.
Most won’t argue with what I just stated above. But what about ethnic and racial diversity? For too long, our society has battled with division based on a person’s race or ethnicity. It has destroyed lives and communities and been a huge stumbling block to biblical unity. The divide doesn’t stop there though. There’s gender inequality. And to top that, we are finding it easier to avoid people who don’t think like us, like what we like, do what we do, or have what we have. Instead of loving each other, we merely tolerate each other. It’s true that there are racial and cultural groups that have suffered from the effects of this division more than others, and God cares deeply about that, but if we are honest, we’ve all held biases for or against people.
This is clearly not God’s vision of a unified community.
Acts 10:34-36 “Peter began to speak: “Now I truly understand that God doesn’t show favoritism, but in every nation the person who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. He sent the message to the Israelites, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ-he is Lord of all. “
Acts 11: 17-18 “If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God? When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”
Even with all of our discernment, intuition, and intellectual ability, none of us, not even one is qualified to fully determine the true state of a person’s soul. That’s a God job. We are saved by grace, not our own goodness. Our job is to love our neighbor. We were not instructed to look on the outside first to judge whether a person should receive love, compassion, forgiveness, acceptance, kindness, or genuine friendship. Our neighbor is anyone that crosses our path. The ones who live next door. The homeless guy we see at the stop light and turn our heads from to avoid eye contact. The cashier at the grocery store. Our spouses and children. That one annoying coworker. Even those who have offended us.
Unity is not a pipe dream.
At this point some may have already started sucking their teeth as all of this may sound more like wishful thinking than an attainable reality. The title of this post is “Do the Work!” for a reason. This won’t be easy. As long as the Earth we currently know remains, sin and darkness will continue to loom over it. Crime, death, injustice, division, war, and all sorts of evil will threaten to shut down this mission to love. But the more people take personal responsibility to do their part, the better our society will be, even if that looks like one microscopic move at a time.
Romans 15:5-7- “Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice. Therefore accept one another, just as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God.”
Note the words endurance, encouragement, and accept. Let’s define each of these real quick by our handy friend Google:
Endurance: the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.
Encouragement: the action of giving someone support, confidence, or hope.
Accept: Believe or come to recognize as valid or correct.
These words are not included in these verses by mistake. God is infinitely wise. He is fully aware of the difficulty of living in harmony with a diverse population. It’s messy! If you have not realized it yet, the key to being able to live in this way is by trusting and depending on Christ Jesus and by repenting for the sin in our hearts that hinders us from seeing humanity the way Christ does. When we confess and believe that Jesus is the son of the one true living God, who died and then resurrected to rescue us from the power of sin and death, we welcome Him into our hearts, where transformation begins. Through Him, we are able to patiently endure and accept others with love.
As nice as it would be to just make all the bad go away, that’s not going to happen. But starting where we are and committing to the work it takes to build and maintain real relationship can yield such a powerful transformation and impact generations.
I have to pray constantly, asking Jesus to give me a heart like His in order to continue to love like He loves. I will also add you to that prayer. We will not always get this right, but the goal is to keep working at it and never give up!
