a verse or two
“My friends, if someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should set them right; but you must do it in a gentle way”. Gal 6:1
Spiritual Walk and Musings: Love For All
Tax collectors were among the most unpopular people in Israel. They were making themselves rich by ripping off their fellow Jews. No wonder the people muttered when Jesus went home with the head tax collector Zacchaeus, a man who was good at being bad. Despite this Jesus loved him; in response, the little tax collector was changed forever. In every society, certain groups of people are considered outcasts because of their political views, immoral behaviour, or lifestyle. Don't give in to social pressure to avoid these people. Jesus loves them, and they need to hear his Good News.[adapted from LABC]
Lord – help us not to use your tremendous grace as a place to wipe our feet of any responsibility to be responsible people.
Lord – help us not to use your tremendous grace as an excuse to not bother to self improve, to not bother to stop wrongdoing.
And yet Lord – sometimes life turns very difficult to cope with, family get sick, time collapses, prioritising hospital trips and what-not takes over. Or unwanted news from left field kicks when we are down, and Lord, there is no amount of saintliness that can get us through such difficult times without wrongdoing.
Lord - may we be spiritual enough to help, to help those who need help – and may we be able to do it in such a gentle way that no more hurt happens.
And may we who have been hurt, forgive; may we learn and may we move on with no tally of rights and wrongs.
And may we who have been hurt – be able to look at the hurter – and see beyond the hurt done to us and understand how the hurter is hurting, may we see their stress, their anguish, that they are overloaded, and Lord, may we see that they don’t need our judgement, they need our love, our forgiveness and your grace. Amen
God Bless, Jon
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