John 15: 12-13 This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. (The Message)
Jesus was teaching this message to his disciples on his last night. Chapter 15 goes from a believers relationship with Jesus to the relationship with other believers and then to the relationship with nonbelievers in the world.
I thought about those three relationships and I think I do ok with the first two, but that third one is not an easy one. How many people do we meet every day who are hurting or needing someone to listen to them or just be there for them in some way? How many times do we stop to make a difference in their lives? Are we too busy to reach out?
Two women I know are examples for me. Both work at the same place and they don't like each other. One is a Christian and one claims there is no God. Both are seriously hurting for different reasons and both have different ways of coping with those hurts. I know in God's eyes they both count and so the saying, "What would Jesus do", comes to my mind when I'm around them. How should I act? What should I say? Do I mind my own business?
It shouldn't be a tough call. But, it is for me. I am commanded by God to love both of them and to reach out in that love to both of them. My struggle right now isn't that I am incapable of reaching out, but how the reaching out to them will affect me (because of my depression) emotionally and I'm afraid of getting in over my head. Then I think, do I trust God? I think I do, but those fears I've talked about before are in the forefront. Should they be? No, but they are.
I am praying that God will show me the way to reach out to them and yet allow me to stay strong emotionally. Maybe the way I'm thinking of reaching out isn't the way God wants me to. God has given me some close friends who love me, who have wisdom and who pray for me and who I know will help me discern this situation I'm in.
Nancy
