Be The Love That's Needed - Neatly Balanced

We live in a society of “I”, “Need”, “Deserve”, “Am better than…” and so forth. How different would our individual lives be, if we stopped using those words and instead spent our days serving others, helping, giving, talking about someone else instead of ourselves?

Something which has been on my mind a lot, lately, is the idea that one thing we feel strongly about is suddenly better or worse than something else. Example: people jumping on the bandwagon of marriage equality, abortion, modesty, political views/opinions, and anything else that is even remotely controversial. It is frustrating to hear someone speak so vehemently against, for example, marriage equality, while at the same time taking part in an adulterous relationship, drug use, cursing, lying, etc. Regardless of your stance on any controversial topic, keep in mind one thing: In God’s eyes, there is no “worse/better sin”. He hates one, just as much as the other. Someone who is slothful, glutenous, PRIDEFUL (how many of us struggle with this?!?), envious, angry about something, greedy, etc is JUST as sinful as the person who is a murderer, is engaging in an affair, or who performs abortions everyday. Doesn’t THAT put it all in perspective? I think we get so focused on how one person is better or worse – in OUR eyes – than someone else, we forget that God doesn’t have a score sheet. We also forget that Christ didn’t run around with the deacons or choir director at the local church. He ate lunch with prostitutes, murderers, and other “Major” sinners (to us). He didn’t run the other direction just because they didn’t fit the Christian stereotype. If CHRIST didn’t run away, why do we think we should? Loving someone is the fastest way to get them to see the errors in their ways, not constantly pointing out what they should change. Nagging just makes us all defensive.

My heart is always with children and will always side on the child’s side, when there is a question of care, and the story regarding the abortion clinic in Philadelphia absolutely made me cry, literally. This is old news, for a lot of you but somehow it came up again recently and I actually took the time to google what was happening. Dr. Kermit Gosnell ran an abortion clinic and many former staff came forward, sharing what he required them to do. I won’t go into the horrifying details on here, but google it for yourself. What he did, over and over, should never be accepted whether you are pro-life or pro-choice.

It seems many of my blog posts are heavy in topics, but my heart is so burdened for: children who need loving homes, legalistic friends and the irreparable damage they sometimes cause by refusing to love those God commands us to love, and the desire I have to help any and everyone I come into contact with, that I sometimes feel overwhelmed with all I want to do and the knowledge that I simply won’t be able to do everything. I want to go to each and every little girl and tell her to ignore the jokes and cruel comments people make, to know she is beautiful in her own way, and that she does NOT have to give into the various forms of peer pressure around her. “Dare to be different. I was, and I turned out ok” is what I would say first, if given the chance. I want to hug every little boy and tell him, even if he didn’t have a father around to show him how to treat a girl like a lady, he can still be amazing to someone waiting to be loved. I would say to him, whether he is in the band and wears braces, feels like an outcast, or throws the longest pass on the football team, he is loved, and he is special. I would tell all the single mothers and fathers that giving their child a loving home and just spending time with them is the best thing they will ever do. Ever. I would go to every jobless, homeless, LGBTQ+ person (yes, to all of you religious pharisees who deem this horrible. Christ commands us to love the sinner, and hate the sin and last time I checked, we are ALL sinners), high school dropout, overweight, special needs, social outcast, suicidal, anorexic, depressed person I saw and tell them they are loved. After all, isn’t that what we all want to hear, more than anything?

Lastly, let me leave you with one question I saw tweeted earlier this week, which has been on my mind ever since: Are you truly listening to those around you, or are you simply waiting to talk?

Psalm 37:4 // Jeremiah 29:11