On Loving "Them"

Differences – Something has been on my mind the past few days. I recently heard a comment having to do with accepting other people who believe (if they believe) differently that I do. How do we accept them? I think the better question is why would we NOT accept them? God’s love and grace is for “them” just as it is for me. While on earth Jesus did not make any distinctions between the “good” people and the “bad” people. He didn’t make distinctions between what people believed or didn’t believe. What people did or didn’t do. He loved - all people right where they were, as they were. He didn’t approach others to necessarily address the differences, he saw others as people and found the similarities. I know that is what he calls us to do.


So my response to the question: How do we accept “them”? Find the common threads that you have with others, start there. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 9.   When we look for the common threads that we have with another person, God has the opportunity to piece together a beautiful tapestry. The beauty will only be seen once we have taken the time to sew together a few of the strands that we have in common. I know that I would not be who I am today, had I not taken the time to get to know people who in many ways are not like me. I am thankful for those that saw me as someone who was different than them, yet took the time to develop the common threads that we had. Secondly, I think we need to get rid of the “us” and “them” language. Let’s be “us” together on the same journey. Love as you want to be loved. Grace as you want to be “graced”. Forgive as you want to be forgiven.” For you and I were once “them” to “them” and still today are “them” to some.