musing...

although i’m a bit of a hard-ass, i’m pretty quick to have pity on others. throughout my life i’ve bypassed the cliques in the cafeteria to try and befriend the friendless, shared my resources with those who have needs and looked beggars in the eye whenever i’ve extended the change that’s in my pocket. i tell you this not to trumpet my own righteousness, but to suggest that such acts are not evidence of righteousness at all.

i’m quick to take pity on others, but i’ve been called to love. i’m beginning to suspect that substituting the former for the latter is not only misguided, but sinful.

Jesus is not calling me to merely have pity on the needy by providing them with a taste of food, but challenging me to forego my dinner plans to break bread with the destitute. Jesus does not want me to simply feel sorry for my maladjusted coworker who was fucked by her family system, he wants me to believe that she can be born into a new family where beauty, truth and goodness reign. Jesus does not expect me to simply serve individuals who are being crushed by the powers, principalities, structures and institutions of the world, but to subvert the oppressive, death inducing powers of this world with the liberating, life-giving way of the kingdom.

for far too long, i’ve walked through this world with sentimental eyes and a hard, cynical heart. by God’s grace, through the power of His Holy Spirit, i hope he flips my script by turning me into a man with hard, discerning eyes and a warm, hospitable and always hoping heart.