Loving Those Who are Harder to Love
During our vacation I continued reading a book that I was given by a church member at NHBC called "Under the Overpass." It is a book that tells the story of two college age Christian men, who follow God's call to live on the streets as homeless people for 5 months to totally depend on God and to see how people in that situation were treated. I have not quite finished the book yet, but it is a thought provoking story to say the least.
The author describes homeless folks as people who do not smell good at all, and they are often hungry as well as in bondage to drugs or mental illness. Just think of that picture for a minute. How difficult is it to love people under those conditions? Yes, it is very difficult, but does that make it alright for us as Christians to ignore them? No, I don't think it does give us an excuse to overlook them and their needs. However, how much do we do when we encounter those who are hard to love? Do we show them the love of Jesus? I pray that we do or at least,, that we will in the future.
Let me give you two scenarios to consider, which he talks about in the book. What if you showed up for church on Sunday morning only to find two men sleeping on the porch of the worship center? How would you handle that situation? Would they be invited in or escorted away before the people arrived? Then, consider God's will for the church in light of Matthew 25. Should we minister to the least of those around us when we have the opportunity? Is that part of the ministry of every believer and of the church? How many times have we sought out those who are hard to love to feed them and to show them the love of Christ? I hope you will truly pray for God to show you His will in these and other situations that call for loving those who are hard to love. From what Jesus said we could be missing a substantial part of His will and His blessing by forsaking these types of people.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 53-55 and II Thessalonians 1.
The author describes homeless folks as people who do not smell good at all, and they are often hungry as well as in bondage to drugs or mental illness. Just think of that picture for a minute. How difficult is it to love people under those conditions? Yes, it is very difficult, but does that make it alright for us as Christians to ignore them? No, I don't think it does give us an excuse to overlook them and their needs. However, how much do we do when we encounter those who are hard to love? Do we show them the love of Jesus? I pray that we do or at least,, that we will in the future.
Let me give you two scenarios to consider, which he talks about in the book. What if you showed up for church on Sunday morning only to find two men sleeping on the porch of the worship center? How would you handle that situation? Would they be invited in or escorted away before the people arrived? Then, consider God's will for the church in light of Matthew 25. Should we minister to the least of those around us when we have the opportunity? Is that part of the ministry of every believer and of the church? How many times have we sought out those who are hard to love to feed them and to show them the love of Christ? I hope you will truly pray for God to show you His will in these and other situations that call for loving those who are hard to love. From what Jesus said we could be missing a substantial part of His will and His blessing by forsaking these types of people.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 53-55 and II Thessalonians 1.