Go and Do the Same

Recently, our local newspaper ran a story on a mother who was coming to Rapid City to speak at a rally for alternative lifestyles. This mother's son had been murdered while away at college. The story told that the son had been murdered because he was a homosexual.

The online version of this article contains a number of reader-submitted comments. Many of these comments condemn this lifestyle and demean this mom for having a son that engaged in this type of lifestyle. And I am sory to say that many of these comments came from people who claimed to follow Christ. Other comments on this article condemned Christians for being intolerant. Reading these comments opened my eyes a bit to the type of hatred that exists in our world. And at times, this hatred is directed towards Chrisitians. I realize sometimes we bring a bit of this hatred on ourselves.

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I do not agree with this type of lifestyle. But, is it my place to judge and condemn another person for the choices that they make? Please don't get me wrong--I am no condoning sinful behavior. And I do that these choices are wrong and may have consequences. It is one thing to disagree with a lifestyle choice, it is quite another thing to condemn the person making that choice.

Committed Christians always try to put into action God's command to "love your neighbor as yourself." (Leviticus 19:18). Jesus told His famous parable of the Good Samaritan to make it clear that "love your neighbor" means to love all persons, everywhere - not just our friends, and those we agree with.

One day an expert on Moses' laws came to test Jesus' orthodoxy by asking him this question: "Teacher, what does a man need to do to live forever in heaven?" Jesus replied, "What does Moses' law say about it?" "It says," he replied, "that you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind. And you must love your neighbor just as much as you love yourself." "Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you shall live!" The man wanted to justify (his lack of love for some kinds of people), so he asked, "Which neighbors?" Jesus replied with an illustration: "A Jew going on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes and money, and beat him up and left him lying half dead beside the road. "By chance a Jewish priest came along; and when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Jewish Temple-assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but then went on. "But a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw him, he felt deep pity. Kneeling beside him the Samaritan soothed his wounds with medicine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his donkey and walked along beside him till they came to an inn, where he nursed him through the night. The next day he handed the innkeeper two twenty-dollar bills and told him to take care of the man. 'If his bill runs higher than that,' he said, 'I'll pay the difference the next time I am here.' "Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the bandits' victim?" The man replied, "The one who showed him some pity." Then Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same." (Luke 10:25-37)(emphasis mine).

Can we really "go and do the same"? In our own strength, I do not see how we can. But we are not living in our own strength. We can do all things through the amazing strength of Jesus. (Phillipians 4:13). Though we may not agree with a person's choice, through His amazing strength, we can still love that person. I encourage you to allow Him to equip and prepare you to "go and do the same."