Dear Friends,
Yesterday I was on the phone
with a friend who was going through a difficult time. She shared with me how
the relationship with her sister-in-law had been fractured during a political
argument simply because she didn’t support the person her sister-in-law
supported.
Unfortunately, this was
not the first time I had heard of a relationship being destroyed over some
political issue.
Sadly, there are people
today, including those who are believers, who have written off friendships
because of political differences.
Sadly, it is those who
claim the name of Christ who are often most vulnerable to allowing politics to
impact friendships.
Instead of valuing people
and overlooking our differences in a spirit of love, we focus on our
differences and allow those differences to divide us.
Unfortunately, Christians
can become contentious, and that quality can tarnish their witness.
As believers, we should
strive to value others, regardless of their point of view, and yet many times
we do just the opposite; we devalue them. Instead of bringing people together,
we divide them by our actions.
“See how they love one
another,” was a frequent refrain of unbelievers as they watched the early
church believers love one another. It was the love they saw practiced inside
the walls of the church that attracted them and resulted in their wanting to
know more about the love they saw lived out among believers.
Today I wonder what the
world thinks of us in the church as they watch how we relate to one another.
God did not send His Son
to teach us how to point fingers at others; He taught us to love one another.
He taught us that we
should be salt and light, qualities that attract others.
The fruit of the Spirit is
characterized by love, and it is that love that makes us different from the
rest of the world.
In Galatians 5:22- 23
Paul writes, “But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is
divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that
subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue,
faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the
law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.”(TPT)
As believers we have the
choice of being fruitful or fruitless, of loving and valuing others, or
rejecting and devaluing others. We can curse the darkness, or we can turn on
our lights and let them shine for the world to see.
If we don’t value people
and try to see the best in them, how will we ever relate to them and win them
to Jesus?
As Christ followers we
should be salt and light. We should be different from those in the world, and
it is that distinctive difference that sets us apart and causes others to want
to know the secret to that difference.
If you and I don’t value
those who act and think differently than us, how will we ever help them,
and if we never help them, how will they ever see and come to know the
love of Christ that can change them?
It was the religious
people who wrote off people like Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman at the
well, or the thief on the cross, but these were the very people, sinners just
like you and me, who Jesus came to save.
If you and I want to be
Christ like, the answer is simple; value people, all people, and especially
those who act and think differently than us.
Religious people wanted to
write sinners off. Jesus wanted to write them in and make them main characters
in His story to remind us that no one is beyond saving.
The law of God is of
little value, if we don’t have the love of God. The law will make us legalistic
policeman, but the love of God will make us loving brothers and sisters who
know that no one is beyond Christ’s love and His redemption.
Yours in faith and
friendship,
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