While on a recent last minute gift shopping excursion with a friend of mine, we saw a homeless person asking for money to get something to eat. As we passed by paying little attention to him I felt something telling me to turn back around and offer him some change from my wallet. Whether this something was the frigid blasts of air against my face, father Christmas, or the Father God I will never be certain. All I know is that it felt like the right thing to do. When I rejoined my friend, they told me I was an idiot and that everyone knows not to give money to the homeless because they’ll just use it on drugs.
Well, it’s a good thing I’m not one for being conventional.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m as quick to judge as the next person. In fact researchers at Princeton have found that the average person forms a first imperssion of a stranger in 1/10th of a second. But what happens when we try to fully understand the perspective of another? What if we made an intentional effort to understand the homeless, the oppressed, the girl covered in piercings and tattoos, a classmate, or a coworker? (Stick with me on this because I’m about to make a little detour…)
The deeper I fall into a relationship with God the more aware I am of my ugly human-ness. I’m beginning to realize that God is so much more than the authoratative judge waiting for me to mess up so He can tally my sins or a Sunday morning feel good that I’ve made Him out to be. I’m realizing that actions really do speak louder than words and that a person can say all of the right things but it all means nothing if they’re not making a sincere effort to act on what they’re saying. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul writes that he’s praying to God for the people to be enabled to live a life worthy of His call and that He would provide the power to accomplish all the good things their faith prompts them to do.
I’m realizing that God really does want to be our friend. I mean He created us, so I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that He kind of totally gets us. He knows that in order to enable Malorie to live a life worthy of His call, she can’t be severly condemned because she’ll shut down and turn away. If I’m gracefully shown my flaws and where I’m wrong, however, I’ll be open and on board to stop at nothing to accomplish the good things I’m prompted to do. His passionate pursuit of me has led to a deeply rooted change in my personality and actions. The same God that created macromolecules and galaxies far and wide loves me enough to give up His son for me. He’s the leading entrepreneur with the greatest proposition- an investment in love. God knows that if I’m given a relationship nurtured by trust, love, and a powerful presence I’m all in. He knows that I can sometimes be a skeptic and incredibly stubborn and that in order to get me to where He wants me to be it will take an orbitoclast and some time. But His self-sacrificing, unconditional, persistent pursuit of me has reassured and proven to me that this is an investment worthwhile.
The mistakes of my past are no longer something I see negatively, but a reminder to cling to Him with all that I have. (Returning from the detour…) Although it’s humanly impossible, I want to challenge you to make the intentional effort to fully understand others and invest in the proposition of love with me. I want God to be the dominating force in my life. I want to see others through the eyes of Jesus. The eyes full of understanding, grace, and the power to save and redeem. You never know what kind of impact you may have or relationship you can foster with someone you may least expect by simply making the effort to better understand them.
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