Recently in a youth meeting we were discussing prayer requests when one of the teens started talking about a new student at his school. The student got into a discussion about religion and let him and his friends, who are professed Christians, know that they didn’t want anything to do with God and would rather serve Satan.
The reaction of these young Christians were to shun this new student and to even suggest that she needed to go to a different school. I believe that they were afraid that she and her evil influence might rub off on them. My response was that maybe God had sent her to them so that she might see the light and hear the truth and would experience a transformation that would change her.
When Jesus walked on the earth, the religious people of His day treated unbelievers the same way as these young Christians treated this new girl. They alienated themselves and had nothing to do with them.
Jesus gave us an example of how we should react to unbelievers; he made every effort to i nteract with them. He spoke to them, showed them respect, ate with them and did His best to meet their need. He didn’t participate in their sins but rather had the attitude, “Hate the sin but love the sinner.”
May God help us to realize that we may be the only person that can show someone the truth and that our heavenly Father may be placing them in our pathway. May God help us to have a love for others even if they don’t deserve it.
May God help us to change the world by willing to interact with it.