...love them anyway...for My sake...

people can really foul-up a lot of simple ideas...
just by being themselves...
God may have made us in His image...
but that doesn't mean that we can assume
that we think as He does...

people are, by nature, flawed...we are sinners all...
and the first time that we forget that...
finding fault with the "walk" of a brother or sister,
we step outside of God's will for us...
right into, what our English friends would call, "a nasty bit..."

we tend to forget that we all have many faults,
because we have so many different ones...
and because we have become very good at hiding them...
from others...as well as from ourselves...
[sometimes, we even try to hide them from God...]
ALL of us have fallen short of God's will for us...

I guess it's always easier...
and certainly a lot more "interesting",
not to mention "pleasant..."
to see the shortcomings of others,
rather than deal with our own...

it's much more "gratifying", on a spiritual basis,
to see yourself as a "defender" of the "way"...
a "part of the solution"...rather than "the problem"...
that's what makes this so insidious....

by taking an attitude of "correction"...
addressing the "speck" in the eye of another...
we not only miss the huge chunk in our own eye,
we create problems for all with our critical spirit...

Jesus did not condemn the Samarian woman,
[who'd had 5 husbands...
and wasn't married to the man she was living with...]
He didn't condone her behavior either ...
but He was concerned with her spiritual awakening...
He knew that as she grew to accept, serve and love God,
her sinful situation would be dealt with by her spiritual growth...

He could see past the "problem"...and love the person...
why can't we do that ?
"love" our friends and neighbors...family members...
brothers and sisters in Christ...
no matter what we personally may think of their actions...

if you are troubled by someone's behavior or situation...
pray for them...not that they be "fixed" or "get right with God"...
but that they be blessed by God...
that the power of His love, with it's blessings of joy and peace,
be showered down on them...filling them so completely,
that they have no other choice
but to want to walk in His will for them...

by reacting this way, there is no condemnation...
no feelings of guilt, recriminations or shame spread about...
only the cleansing, empowering, redemptive love of God...
with it's acceptance, healing and supportive fellowship...

THIS, is our job...to love each other, unconditionally...
as God loves us....
we must let His, be the only voice that speaks in our heart,
or anyone else's...
bringing lives into a conformity with His will...
in His time...in His way...

He knows and loves each of us,
where we are...as we are...no matter what..
because He made us the way we are...
and we are His....

as long as we have turned to Him...
given Him our life, accepted His forgiveness and salvation...
He will guide us in His will...
creating the person He always meant us to be...
He is, and must be, our only judge...

we can't know God's will for another...
and we shouldn't judge them either...
all of that is God's job, not ours...
we are responsible for keeping ourselves right with Him,
seeking His will for us and walking in the path He sets...
that is quite enough to keep most of us very busy...

the grass is always "greener", or in this case, a lot more "weedy",
in our neighbor's lawn, with it's obvious flaws...
it's SO much more exciting to concern ourselves with others,
than to deal with the less-than enthralling prospect of our own "problems"...
also a lot easier to see the "troubled places", when they aren't ours...

we are our "brothers and sisters keepers...
but only in that we should keep them always in our prayers...
not for their "correction"...
but for blessings and growth in His will for them...

to do less, is to fail in our calling to
"love our neighbors as ourselves"...
we are to be servants to all...
bearing all things...
believing all things...
hoping all things...

it is our privilege...
to love our neighbors through prayer...
it is our responsibility...
to keep from leading others into sin...

misplaced "correction" of the "problems" of our neighbors,
can do just that...and is, in itself, "sinful"...
"meaning well" is not enough here ...
we must "do no harm"...
or suffer the consequences...

we must, instead, pray for those
whose behavior offends us...
no matter on which "side"
of the fence, we find ourselves...

love the sinner in us all,
even while we hate the sin...
forgive those that we consider "misguided"...
and pray for them...
to be blessed by the Holy Spirit...

realizing that it is our job
is to be "like" Him,
as "great lovers"...
not judges...