do you see souls...or just skin color?

Day after day, our news feeds are filled with reports of those who do harm to others. In this unfortunate world, people are reacting FIRST...then thinking it out second. Reasons for such reactions are becoming as old as time: race, gender, creed, abilities and so on.

I won't go into the specifics of who I know who is dealing with whatever is making the news rounds, suffice it to say that I have a wide circle of friends and this is the most important thing to remember: they are FRIENDS. Friends don't tear each other down, we build each other up. Friends look past your imperfections, your mistakes. Your trials and errors also become theirs as they walk that path with you. To them, you are perfection personified. They would cross a burning bridge to save you, they would scale the highest mountain for you, they would stand in with you should the need arise.
 This is what friends do.

Want proof? Here is what Jesus has told us:

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you." John 15:13

John 10:11
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.


1 John 3:16
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (NOTE how this scripture is so much like John 3:16:
 ^" For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.")

 1 John 4:7-11 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one …


So...when you hear about issues with race, with color, with creed, with gender specifics, with disabilities...when you see someone struggle, why do you feel it is necessary to pull that rug out from under them? Why do you point your fingers and lay judgment upon them? I know from past history in my own life, when I was of a "different religion" than the majority of my friends, how it felt to be singled out, laughed at, bullied and mocked. Oh! how I cried! I couldn't understand why, if this religion was "supposed" to be "the one," why others mocked me. I was a loner growing up. We were a poor family so I wore hand me downs. I just stood out as if I had a sign over my head that screamed "different!"

I can only imagine the pain of those who are living in a confused state due to gender differences. Why do we hold out the Word of God and scream at them of how they are going to burn in hell? Really? Do we know this for a fact? Why do we look the other way when a person of color moves into our neighborhood? Why do we ignore the one family in church who is a different race than we are? Are we not all God's children? and when we all come to His table, why do we move over as if to get away from another who is different from us, as if we will pick up "cooties" from them, like third graders do at school?

Friends...we must not. How can you sit there in church and call yourself Christian when you pick and choose who is your friend? You hypocrite! Why not reach out...get to know that person! If you saw someone drowning, would you toss them an anchor? When seconds count, so you stop to consider, "well, he IS darker skinned than me, nahhhh...he's on his own!"

I can say with certainty that I have witnessed this decision making among others. I am ashamed to say....I cannot fathom where the  hate comes from. I grieve when I realize that if not for the color of our skin...or who we decide to love...or what God-loving beliefs we practice...we would, in all likelihood, be joined as one. So...why not begin today? Why NOT look upon another in love?

Today we have wars breaking out all due to one side proving they are better than another. We have riots due to one side proving they are better than another. It galls me to see signs that explicitly point out "black lives matter!" God looks down with sadness, because in His eyes, ALL lives matter. The unborn lives, the lives knocking on death's door, the lives that are on the margin of what society expects....those who are thought of as "not good enough," to God, they are more than good enough. They are the best...they are you & I...just doing the best we can to get by in this cold world.

Reach out today. I mean, REACH OUT! "Love one another, even as I have loved you!" this was NOT a suggestion...this is a command...that we go on loving each other, calling each other by name.
What a wonderful feeling that is...when we hear someone call us by name! Let's start a revolution of love....and let it begin with each one of us.