Loving everyone, as Jesus does

 

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." - 2nd Peter 3:9


I'm not sure what the hold up was but there was a lot of waiting at the little Costa Rican church. We were all sitting around watching the church custodian sweep the floor. A little later restlessness showed up and some of us began to walk down the road, Spanish gospel tracks in hand, looking for someone to hand them too. I think I encountered two people. The traffic was speeding by on the dirty, uneven road. Pedestrians had no rights on the road, so we stayed a safe distance from the danger. Which as a Christian is what we tend to do. We sit safely in our churches, which are clean, off the beaten road and wait for the lost to come in. I was guilty for years of playing church until the Lord showed me on that hot and humid day in Costa Rica that I needed to do more than just go on a week long mission trip and then return to my comfortable home. He wanted me to step out and make myself or more so the Lord's presence known.

What struck me that day is what I witnessed. Everyone needs to hear this, as a Christian this should pierce us right through the heart. I watched one of the pastors walk right into a bar. When he came out the Costa Rican pastor asked him "What did you go in there for?" His comment was pretty much "They need Jesus too." This bar was filthy looking, a tiny building with an open door. Sitting in the slums of San Jose. But he was right, they did need Jesus. A white man casually walking into the bar sharing the gospel of Jesus, was a little dangerous. But God protected him. God has no boundaries.

Later that week one of the other missionaries who had a gift working with handicapped children asked the Costa Rican pastor if he could stop and set up a time so that we could talk to the special needs school right across the street from our hotel. He kept driving past.  She tried to explain that no matter their mental state, they still needed Jesus. Later our group walked down and talked to the school principal. He was very receptive and asked us to come back in the morning. The experience was amazing, many of those children, their teachers and parents received the gift of salvation.

"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 19:14

Why was the pastor so hesitant, I don't know. But I've been just as guilty to be so reserved when it came to who I talked about or showed Jesus' love with. We have to open our eyes and see that salvation is for everyone, not just for who we see as a lesser threat to our self esteem. Jesus teaches us a very valuable lesson found in the 22nd Chapter of Matthew.

³⁶ Master, which is the great commandment in the law? ³⁷ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Sometimes we love ourselves a little too much, we downright spoil ourselves. If we stopped and looked around and gave a moment in time to helping someone else, listening to their problems, sharing your bounty, it is then we are loving our neighbors.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." - Philippians 2:4