Take a moment to think about your worldview prior to being here this week.
- How did you view or see the world and the people in it? What did that look like?
- How did you view others both here and around the world?
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all the put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.” Colossians 3:12-15
Before we can love others the way that Christ commanded us to, we must learn to see the world through the eyes of Christ. To put aside our differences in views and opinions. To look past issues of race, gender, politics or religion, and to see each person we encounter as a child loved by God.
Can you imagine how different I, you, our church, and eventually the world, will be, if in our pursuit for truth and justice, we truly pray for and seek a Godly worldview. If we open our hearts to the idea of welcoming and loving the strangers: here, at home, in our churches, in our school, and around the world.
We have all heard the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10, in which Jesus asked us to examine the responses of three men who encountered a man who had been robbed, beaten, and left for dead. Jesus asks us which of the three men proved to be a neighbor to the man in need. Jesus answered, “the one who showed him mercy” and then commanded us to “go, and do likewise.”
Spend some time in prayer and reflection.
- Does your worldview, how you see the world and those in it, align with “the one who showed him mercy”?
- Who are the strangers in your life? What is keeping you from showing love to these people?
- What needs to change with your worldview so that you can see others as Christ does, here, at home, and in the world?
Take a moment to pray and ask God to show you the world as God sees it. Ask for a heart open to the stranger and eager to love as Christ has loved.