Do I want to be this way because the love of Jesus compels me to then love others, or because it makes me feel like a hero?
I’d like to think that I don’t ever look upon others as “insiders” or “outsiders”. It makes me feel good to imagine myself as the type of person who blindly accepts anyone that comes my way, no matter what. Like a scene in a movie where someone’s life is changed because of just one person. I want to be that “one person.”
But, that leads to me wonder, “do I want to be this way because the love of Jesus compels me to then love others, or because it makes me feel like a hero?” Some days, I think the honest answer is the latter. But some days, when I choose to really give my heart and mind to Christ when reading His word, I am reminded of His unconditional, generous love. It is then that my heart is compelled by the love of my Father.
Paul says it best when he says that there is “…righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…”
No distinction. No “Jewish Insiders”, no “Gentile Outsiders”. Despite our struggle to judge others as “inside” or “out”, praise be to God not only for loving us all equally but for compelling us with His love to do the same to those around us.
