Loving Outside Our Bubble

Laura Loopstra was our special guest on See Hear Love and gave us a great lesson on how to very practically love others in our world.

Loving others isn’t something that comes naturally for us, but it is necessary if we call ourselves Christian. Personally, I even think it’s necessary for our own holistic health.

There are people that we naturally love. They typically have similar characteristics to us such as, they look like us they stink like us they act like us… You see a pattern? Well, the real challenge is in loving everybody not just the ones we can relate to. In fact, the biggest act of love can typically be seen when it is those that are not easy to love.

When Jesus shared the parable of the good Samaritan, he officially busted down all the walls that the religious people of the day used for parameters to decide on who their neighbor was. They didn’t want it to be difficult – they wanted to only have to love those that were easy to. Quite often back then, that meant only those of the same religion. However, the good Samaritan shows that it doesn’t matter race, religion, or anything else for that matter… Rather it matters if they are human. Do they have a pulse? Jesus says they are our neighbors.

My favorite part about this parable – something that stuck out to me this time around – was how the Samaritan didn’t seem to even think twice. He took care of this man, as though he was his own flesh and blood. What I mean by that is that he didn’t spare any expense in caring for this fellow human & saving his life. Much as I bet he’d do for himself if he was able and in this man’s state. If you were injured or incredibly ill, would you pinch pennies? Or would you do what needed to be done to heal and stay alive?  Now flip: would we do this for someone else? Would I spend money as freely as this man to care for someone else’s life? The answer is probably no. Whether it’s money or not – I do need to have a more open handed approach to loving others. Especially those with differing opinions, styles, skin colour, language, accent, eye colour…you see where I’m going.

Have you found your self gravitating towards a specific kind of person? Maybe it’s time to open up your eyes to see others in your world that might be in need. Join me while I work on this myself…