Upon hearing of possibly another heroine overdose last night I began thinking. (I say this to fellow Christians). You and I need to be better neighbors. I know that I am making an assumption that many of us are not so please hear me out.
If we really belong to Christ, then the Gospel that we profess compels us to be the one that would stop by the side of the road and lift out of the pit the one who has been despised and rejected by those in society and by other "religious people." Do you and I know our neighbors? Do we spend time with those who are in danger?
Think for a second about those who are rejected, and yes even those who are rejected for their own wrongdoing. Are we "being neighbors" to them? Really? How many people do we know that are hopelessly caught in drug addiction or any other illegal or immoral activity? Are we sitting back waiting for them to fall beyond repair? Are we sitting back and waiting so that we can accuse? Are we sitting back until the day that we can see their faces on our arrest app, then post on facebook and say, "I knew that it would come to this, they got what they deserve!" Are we sitting back until they are dead? Friends, this is not Christ's example of a neighbor.
Perhaps our "hatered" is not so blatent, perhaps we are just avoiding people because we do not know what to do. This does not get us off the hook. We need to learn how to respond. We must pray for these people and get busy learning how to reach out to all people, regardless of anything they have done.
I hope that we might be encouraged by God's grace, to go to those that are hated, rejected by our society, even by many religious groups, and "be a neighbor" to these people.
Soli Deo Gloria
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