For those of us who profess the Lord Jesus as our savior, it befits us to remember that at the core of our faith, is LOVE. God loves us so much that He gave His son’s life for us; we love Him; and we love our neighbors. At least that is how it should be. 1 John 4:7-11 tells us, “Beloved, let us love one another, for loveis of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
With that said, have you ever encountered unloving, unkind Christians? How about unloving, unkind Christians in church? Most likely, we all have. This is the story of one man who did.
At the end of the line stood an older man in filthy clothes. It was obvious that he had not bathed or shaved in some time. When he reached the usher, he respectfully removed his old hat displaying dirty hair. His shoes were raggedy ad he wore soiled socks.
The usher held his fingers to his nose in disgust and glared at the old man and said, “I’m sorry sir, but we can’t let you in. You will distract the congregation and we don’t allow anyone to disrupt our service. I’m afraid you’ll have to leave.”
The old man looked down at himself and with a puzzled look on his face, he placed his old hat back upon his head and turned to leave. He was sad as he loved to hear the choir sing praises to the Lord. He loved to watch the little children get up in front of the church to sing their little songs. He carried in his pocket a small worn Bible and loved to see if the minister would preach a passage from that he had underlined.
He was polite and didn’t want to cause any commotion, so he hung his head and walked back down the steps of the church. He sat down on the brick wall near the edge of the church yard and strained to listen through closed doors and windows to the singing going on inside the church. Oh, how he wished he could be inside with all the others.
After a few minutes had passed, suddenly a younger man came up behind him and sat down near him. He asked the old man what he was doing. He answered, “I was going to go to church today, but they thought I was too dirty, and my clothes were not suitable. They were afraid I would disrupt their service. Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. My name is George.”
The two gentlemen shook hands and George couldn’t help but notice that this man had unkempt hair and wore a piece of cloth draped over his body tied with a royal purple sash. He had sandals upon his feet, now covered with dust and dirt.
The stranger reached out to touch George’s shoulder and said, “Nice to meet you, George, don’t feel bad because they won’t let you in. My name is Jesus, and I’ve been trying to get into this same church for years, and they won’t let me in either.”
But what if we are or have been guilty of partaking in unloving and unkind behavior toward others? Praise God, that He is a loving, gracious Father who unconditionally loves us and will taken us into His loving arms with tenderness and forgiveness if we repent and have a sincere desire for spiritual growth.
Let us seek the face of God and ask Him to search the deep places of our hearts as King David did in Psalm 139:23-24 when he wrote: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” That is a good start in loving God more and as well, in loving our neighbors more, showing kindness and compassion to them.