Christianity Based on Perception

Luke 6:32-36 NIV

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

The homeless beggar on the street

The coworker who is always on time and helpful
The coworker who is always late and surly
The coworker who doesn't deserve the position he is in
The head of the company, CEO
The salesman who sold me a lemon car
The checker with a long line at the grocery store
The guy who holds the door for me
The lady who cuts in line in front of me
Those who have a lifestyle that is different from mine
Those who campaign against abortion
Those who campaign for a woman’s right to abortion
Drug addicts

Drug dealer

Guy who broke into my house

Policemen
Firemen

My ex-husband

My boss

Those who are swindling the welfare system 

My elderly parents

The nurse caring for the elderly

The coworker who snitches on everyone

My pastor

That argumentative atheist on Facebook

My child’s teacher who obviously hates my child

The coach who won’t let my child off of the bench

The kind, hardworking custodian

Wife-beaters

Neo-Nazis

Left extremists

Nancy Pelosi

Donald Trump

I need to spend a little time thinking about treating everyone as God’s child, and not just those who I deem worthy. Treating “good” people well and “bad” people poorly is a worldly point of view and not at all like Christ. I should treat all of those on the list above with kindness and equity. This is what Jesus called me to do.  He loves them all and as his child, he expects me to do the same.  I am not called to judge, but to love.  And the main point is “Who am I to judge?”

While watching a popular high school girl helping a fellow student with her homework, I noticed how kind and caring she was to this lonely girl who had a foul odor and shabby clothing. People even commented on what a compassionate heart the popular girl had. Then I watched this same popular girl in a very different situation act hateful to someone that she perceived as a bad guy. 

How many times do I, like this popular high school girl, act kindly to those who I perceive as worthy of my kindness while at the same time, act cold to those who I blame for some circumstance in my life? How many times do I ignore someone who made a decision that I dislike? It seems that we as Christians will stop everything to care for, and talk to those who we deem worthy, but we do not bother to reach out to those who we perceive as a threat or those in whom we disagree. Is there really any difference at all in the way I treat people and the way a non-Christian treats people? 

Image by John Hain from Pixabay 

Lord, please forgive my sin of judging. Help me to be Christ-like to all. Help me see when my judgment gets in the way of my Christian witness. Help me remember that a Christianity based on my perception is not Christianity at all. It is nothing like You called me to be. May I be the light and salt to the world, even on social media. You called me to love and not to judge. And most of all, may my eyes be on You.  

Today's Gift

The past week has been a difficult time to be in a leadership position. The COVID-19 virus has rocked our world!  Many people in leadership positions have had to make uncomfortable decisions about closures that affect all of us. It is easy to see the inconveniences but difficult to see the point of all of it.

As a school superintendent, my husband has been one of those on non-stop conference calls from local health officials and state officials gathering and sorting media hype and overreaction from factual information. And from all this information he had to make a decision about school closure that will affect the lives of not only our students and their family members, but our staff and our community members.  On one hand, there will be lack of child care for children whose parents still must go to work and some children who will not receive the adult care and two meals a day that our school provides them. And with absence from school, students will not be practicing those skills necessary to give us an acceptable rating in the hyper-critical eyes of the Texas state government officials, thus affecting our funding. But on the other hand there may be stress on our health care system, due to many susceptible people becoming exposed to this deadly virus.

On those conference calls, state officials 2-stepped around making a statewide decision of closure for schools as well as other direct questions posed to them about repercussions to our school finances and any possibility of releasing us from this year's state mandated tests. So the stress increases. Finally, after much thoughtful consideration with a group of superintendents in our county, the decision was made to close our schools for a week.  And so the complicated work of educating our students remotely is looming ahead of us next week.

This afternoon however, my husband got a gift.  It was a call from an elderly community member.  This man was mourning the loss of a friend in another state to the COVID-19 virus, who left behind a quarantined, lonely widow. Imagine mourning the death of your spouse completely alone for 14 days with no hugs, no family and no friends. This community member expressed his thanks to my husband for the decision he made on behalf of those who are most susceptible to this virus.  That call was a gift.  It helped him remember why we are doing this. So when you find yourself fretting this weirdness of closures, remember why we are doing this. You will never know the lives that you saved.

Image by Sabine van Erp from Pixabay