The World is Your Neighbor Luke 10:25-37
Praying over the city at Woodland Hills Church.
September 9 at 7:09 AMSaint Paul
The World is Your Neighbor
Yesterday at church we talked about how it seems that many Christians, too many of us, are on a path and a trajectory that is far from God’s ideal. The Pastor even put his right hand real high in the air indicating what God wants from us and then the left real low to indicate where we are. He went on to say that whenever this happens, we need immediate correction. I can’t recall the exact words, forgive me, but the clear impression I got was it will not be good if we don’t work to fix this.
He went on to talk about a trip he’d been on, a Powerful trip, to the South which was a tour of slavery. Friends of color joined him and the experience opened his eyes. He talked about how the Spirit moved him to tears many times. He went on to talk about refugees around the world. I think the number he mentioned was 70 million—70 million people without a country. While all of this is impacting God’s World, Christians support a president who wants to build a wall and they’re burning Nike shoes. To be clear, he didn’t say that last sentence—that one is me.
During this same day, a friend randomly went to one of my Nike posts on Facebook to say, “You are a pot-stirrer.” I took offense. It seemed there was just a pot sitting there until SHE came there and stirred it. I then asked my friends, “In a situation like this, who is the pot-stirrer?”
I got interesting answers. The ones I thought most revealing were from people who disagree with the message. They, of course, deem it “pot-stirring”. The other thing I thought very interesting was they would talk about intent. This one I don’t understand at all. Intent for anyone sharing any message is they care about the information and they want people to know it. Anything beyond that is subjective, judgments. This was my other thought, “I would NEVER call anyone, not even Trump, a pot-stirrer for putting out a message.” I believe to do so is shaming and the intent is to control their behavior.
In the end, especially after this message, I don’t care if you think I am being a pot-stirrer for calling out injustice, for trying to educate people on truth, and for putting out on the walls of Facebook and Twitter what God has placed on my heart. As much as I’d LOVE for the message to impact you and have you embrace it, that part of the process is not in my hands. And as much as I realize that if you harden your heart, that you’re likely block these words from getting through, I can’t control that either.
I want you to ask yourself, when Jesus talked about the neighbor and the Samaritan, who was he referring to? (Luke 10:25-37) He could have picked anyone. The customary neighbor next to your house or in your church, but He didn’t.
Your neighbor is the person you normally would not associate with. In this story, it is someone who needs you, and we are to love them like ourselves. My friends have said, “Politics are different than faith.” Hmmmm, so, if we are loving this neighbor like ourselves, would you want someone to support laws that hurt you? And didn’t Jesus say, we are to be known by our works? Everything you do is part of your works and a way to demonstrate your faith—including who you vote for and the policies you support.
The pastor also said, “I don’t know the answer.” This was to questions like immigration and such. I don’t know those answers either, but to those of us on this side, the side “stirring the pot”, when I hear people talk of things like “legal immigration”, building walls, and the “right” way to respect a flag, I hear fear, greed, and selfishness. These are not of God and Jesus warned us about them.
Please search your heart and pray for God to reveal His truth to you. Ask Him what He would have of you.
Dearest Heavenly Father, when we let You in, You change us. As Your children, we want to shine Your light into the world. It is a bleak place without you, and to bring people to you, we MUST love them first. You care about ALL people of the world. Open our eyes to the injustice and the pain so that we can reveal Your mercy and grace to everyone. You said the meek will inherit the earth. To be filled with Your Power, to do Your Works, we must make ourselves meek, so you can strengthen us. It’s tough work. We need You. May we be ever reliant on your Sight, Strength, Love, and Mercy…in Your Mighty & Holy Name…
Love you all. Lay your prayer requests on me. Each of you matters!