Every Single Human Being

I’ve been contemplating lately.

It’s becoming more and more clear to me that we live in a very self righteous and hypocritical world. Our culture is overflowing with a message of tolerance and acceptance. We teeter right on the edge of wholeness and then slip off the wrong side into a muddy pit that is littered with lies.

I’ve been thinking about things like homosexuality and abortion and politics and sin and church.

I’ve been thinking about the people in my life that don’t fit well together; their opinions and lifestyles are hot and cold, sweet and sour, desert and ocean.

It bothers me that so much judgement and belittling exists in the folds of the human race.

Why do we ALL climb up onto pedestals and blaringly preach our opinions into each other’s faces?

It’s silly how we all claim to be unbiased, non-judgmental, tolerant, and RIGHT.

It’s especially silly that the “tolerant” ones have no tolerance for people who don’t think they way they do. They see differences as ignorance. They see woundedness as aggression.

There is so much name calling, so many groups where certain individuals are not allowed.

You might think I’m talking about the very liberal, or the very conservative. You might think I’m talking about those outside the church, or those inside the church. You might think I’m talking about the heterosexual, or the homosexual. You might think I’m talking about the unwed mother, or the married mother.

The truth is, I’m talking about all of us. Every single human being. We are all, every one of us, walking around, in a mindset of some sort that excludes SOMEBODY.

For some reason, judgement is our first response. We judge the sinner. We judge the judger. We all judge.

Not one of us is open minded enough to truly view the offender with sincere love and acceptance. We harbor bitterness deep inside of our human hearts. We make sharp comments about the people we have already rejected.

And this is how we know that we are human. This is how we know that we are missing something; we’ve slipped off the edge and we are stuck in the mud.

This is also how we know that there can only be One answer; One way; One hope; One love.

Because Jesus is the only One who has ever paved a sincere, unwavering road to true acceptance.

He’s the One who picked that adulterous woman out of the dust and made a choice to not scorn or despise her. He rose to her defense. What was there to defend? She had been CAUGHT in her violating act.

I’ll admit that I think I would have stood on the fringe of that crowd and ached for her in my heart, yet accused her with my thoughts. I may not have picked up a stone, but I would have willed someone else to do it for me.

What bravery burned in Jesus to rise to her defense. What freedom flooded into her life at the mere act of mercy.

What would it cost us to love the people who have offended us, the people who have hurt us?

I remembering reading something about how easy it is to love the person who loves you back, but what about your enemies? What about the person who makes you feel stupid and insignificant? What about the group that has left you out your entire life? What about the person who lives differently than you do? What about the world that makes you feel insignificant every time you turn on the tv and see a stunning, sculpted woman?

Maybe all we really need is to take a step back, take a deep breath and turn our troubled eyes inward. Maybe we need to stop rallying against the world that makes bad choices; stop making signs that scream of hate and rules and take a good hard look at that person lying in the dirt.

What would it cost us to lay aside our worldview, our political stance, our personal belief, and stoop down to offer mercy? Will we not bring freedom rather than a deeper loss? Will we not, ourselves, breath deep of the breath of God?

May we always be challenged to lay aside our need to be right for the sake of love. May we always remember that our job is to love first. And may we birth true acceptance in a world of shadows and mere images. May we be the spark of change. May the lost and broken and rejected find that the Way of Jesus will be their own hope. May they see that hope trickling down from our merciful hearts.

May WE be changed before we demand change from any other human being.