As the year winds down and we're looking up the barrel of a new one, perhaps we could consider a new effort, a different chain of thought, a change in perspective. We've become so polarized, judgemental, stupidly blind to how others might feel. Let us, instead, be slow to pass judgement. We should allow increased brotherhood to brighten our lives and those with whom we cross paths.
When we encounter someone whose circumstances have left them in an undesirable place, perhaps we need to extend the helping hand, leaving our judgement behind. For how does a critical thought or word lift anyone out of despair?
Does your God love you more than your downtrodden brother?
Politics seem to blind us to anything on which we might see eye to eye. This new year, perhaps we could change our focus. Rather than working to change our brother's foundational beliefs, let us work together on those efforts on which we already agree. Rather than holding so strongly to the 2% separating us, we could embrace the other ninety-eight.
Does your God love you more than your brother standing on the other side of the isle?
What separates you from your neighbor? What biases prevent you from accepting another human as your equal? What do you suppose puts you on a pedestal? Perhaps this year we could put those things aside and accept that we are all made of the same dirt. Our molecules are exactly the same.
Whether you embrace an ancient God or modern technology and science, perhaps you should realize more fully that your God doesn't respect you or hold you in higher esteem than he does your brother. Perhaps we should take greater care to do the same.
Because I have been given much,
I too must give;
Because of thy great bounty Lord,
Each day I live;
I shall divide my gifts from thee
With every brother that I see
Who has the need of help from me.
Because I have been sheltered, fed
By thy good care;
I cannot see another’s lack and I not share;
My glowing fire, my loaf of bread,
my roof's safe shelter overhead
That he too may be comforted.
Because I have been blessed by
thy great love dear Lord;
I’ll share thy love again
According to thy word;
I shall give love to those in need,
I’ll show that love by word and deed;
Thus shall my thanks be thanks in deed.
Lyrics by Grace Noll Crowell (1936)
Does your God love you more?
