Hosea 9-11
Revelation 3
“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.’” Matthew 25:40
Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, no matter what their story is. Micah 6:8 exhorts, “And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” As Christians, we are called to live out the love and compassion of Jesus. When I (Brett McBride) think of this, my friend Joe* comes to mind.
Joe is a very successful businessman. God has given him the spiritual gift of making money, so he is quite wealthy, lives in a nice home and has a cottage up north. Yet, Joe is completely different from the average wealthy person. He is generous with everything that he owns. When you are invited into his home, you feel like a treasured guest. He has opened his home to the newcomer, the foreigner, the stranger.
Last year, Joe and his wife were part of a small team that went to the island of Lesvos, Greece, to serve in a refugee camp. Lesvos is one of the main entry points into Europe along the refugee highway. When a boat arrives, filled with asylum seekers, it is all hands on deck to get people food and clothing because almost all of them show up soaked, cold and hungry from the perilous journey that they had just made. Joe and his wife were assigned to hand out clothing for the people, but it was the way he handed out the clothing that caught people’s attention. Joe had the clothing laid out and as the people came, he would pick just the right garment for each person. Now, there were a lot of people coming off the boat, so one of the volunteers was a bit frustrated with Joe and told him, “Look, we don’t have time to do it this way. There’s too many people.” Joe looked at that person and said, “Yes, we do.” Why? Because Joe was treating each person with dignity, as though what they wore mattered.
Later, when Joe saw the people in the camp, he would say, “Hey buddy, love the jacket!” And the person would stand up a bit taller, put their shoulders back and feel like they were wearing something beautiful. Although Joe belonged in the upper crust of society, walking with Jesus made him a different kind of rich man, one that saw each individual as an image-bearer of God, worthy of love and respect.
In a world where complacency is so easy to slip into, we can model something different. While we cannot solve the complexity of the world’s problems, we can love the person in front of us. What we cannot do is be complacent.
Father God, I do not want to be complacent. Help me to love each person that I encounter and treat them each with love and respect as Your image-bearer. Thank You, Lord.
Revelation 3
“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.’” Matthew 25:40
Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, no matter what their story is. Micah 6:8 exhorts, “And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” As Christians, we are called to live out the love and compassion of Jesus. When I (Brett McBride) think of this, my friend Joe* comes to mind.
Joe is a very successful businessman. God has given him the spiritual gift of making money, so he is quite wealthy, lives in a nice home and has a cottage up north. Yet, Joe is completely different from the average wealthy person. He is generous with everything that he owns. When you are invited into his home, you feel like a treasured guest. He has opened his home to the newcomer, the foreigner, the stranger.
Last year, Joe and his wife were part of a small team that went to the island of Lesvos, Greece, to serve in a refugee camp. Lesvos is one of the main entry points into Europe along the refugee highway. When a boat arrives, filled with asylum seekers, it is all hands on deck to get people food and clothing because almost all of them show up soaked, cold and hungry from the perilous journey that they had just made. Joe and his wife were assigned to hand out clothing for the people, but it was the way he handed out the clothing that caught people’s attention. Joe had the clothing laid out and as the people came, he would pick just the right garment for each person. Now, there were a lot of people coming off the boat, so one of the volunteers was a bit frustrated with Joe and told him, “Look, we don’t have time to do it this way. There’s too many people.” Joe looked at that person and said, “Yes, we do.” Why? Because Joe was treating each person with dignity, as though what they wore mattered.
Later, when Joe saw the people in the camp, he would say, “Hey buddy, love the jacket!” And the person would stand up a bit taller, put their shoulders back and feel like they were wearing something beautiful. Although Joe belonged in the upper crust of society, walking with Jesus made him a different kind of rich man, one that saw each individual as an image-bearer of God, worthy of love and respect.
In a world where complacency is so easy to slip into, we can model something different. While we cannot solve the complexity of the world’s problems, we can love the person in front of us. What we cannot do is be complacent.
*name changed to protect privacy
Father God, I do not want to be complacent. Help me to love each person that I encounter and treat them each with love and respect as Your image-bearer. Thank You, Lord.
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