
Something we all can fall into easily, is the trap of judgment! In one of U2’s latest singles, Invisible (RED) the song has in the lyrics “there is no them, there is no them, there is only us!”
Now, if you’re already questioning why I referenced U2, because they’re spiritual beliefs seem to be ambiguous, that’s because there has been engrained in us a system that divides “secular and sacred”. We naturally want to segregate and judge what we don’t understand or agree with, but I want to submit that falling back on that natural mindset keeps us from effectively winning people to Love of Jesus.
Anytime we take the low road of judgment we take a route that requires no strength or creativity to accomplish. Jesus was the best example of the “US” mindset. The religious leaders of His day had created a vast chasm between themselves and the rest of the dregs of humanity. They elevated themselves to a place of superiority through a deep knowledge of the scriptures; however, knowledge without experience is like a can of green beans with a nice label but nothing on the inside to prove what the label says is true.
Papa God, in His immeasurable Love and Experiential Knowledge, yearns for nothing more than to have “experiential knowledge” with His children, but I digress. Here’s the point, when we truly embrace and crave the life of Jesus to be our own, then we erase the life that divides Us and Them! He saw past those social and economic barriers to model a Christian life that is the only true measure of success for us as Christians. Jesus was perfect doctrine, He was the only “normal” Christian.
It takes no effort to remain in the place of criticism that separates you from “those people”. When we do this, we see the world around us as a “project or job”, instead of a brother or sister we want to introduce to a Loving and Gracious Father. It does however take a great deal of effort, powered by the grace of Holy Spirit, to realize and embrace humanity as “US”. Jesus said in Luke 19:10 that He came to seek and save the lost, but He never approached people in a lost condition as if they were a project for fixing. He approached them with goodness and that is what drew them to repentance. Rom 4:2 say “it’s the goodness of God that draws or woos humanity to repent”.
So often we have bought into the mindset of judgment and segregation because people have taken the scripture in 2 Cor 6:14-15 “what fellowship has light with darkness…” to mean “stay away from that dirty group of people”, but what it means is that your health and well being comes from living in community with believers who are striving to be more like Master Jesus. When we seek that as our foundation for life, it means we become intuitively interested in serving humanity and leading them to a Loving Father.
The fact is we are in this together and we have an answer the world is crying for! We are called to be a light in the… DARKNESS! How can we shine unless there’s darkness around us? We’re not called to the bubble of safe Christianity; we’re called into an unsafe and dangerous world to draw people into Love by our lifestyle of LOVE. Jesus did this by staying hooked to the Father’s presence and walking in the Power of Holy Spirit. Then when He came into contact with the prostitute, the darkness that ruled her had to bow its knee to the Love that invaded its space.
How different would humanity be if we believed “we’re in this together” and we want to introduce them to Love by serving their deepest need. When we do this, Love will win.
The Best is yet to come,
Barry