Caspian Terns, Royal Terns and Laughing Gulls – Mustang Island, Texas
We live in a world of division. Each side seems to hate each other. Often the things that divide one-side against the other are NOT insignificant, but let us follow Jesus’s lead…….
Jesus, the Son of God, God’s very Word made flesh, came down from heaven to accompany us in our life here on this beautiful planet. I don’t care how good we think we are, we are not in any way close to his glory. Yet he joined us. He became fully man. He accompanied us and still accompanies us today. Why? To lead us to heaven, to make us like him, to be a part of his family so we can live eternally surrounded and filled with his love.
Jesus demonstrated the practice of accompaniment throughout his life. How was Jesus able to accompany people that might be practicing the most deplorable of sins? Perhaps he, being God, looked into their hearts? Perhaps he saw them kissing their son, their spouse or their mother at the end of the day? Perhaps it was because he saw them dancing and singing joyfully at the start of a new day? Perhaps he saw them giving money to a stranger, a prisoner, a widow in need? Somehow, someway, Jesus saw the good and the potential of each person, each person that he had made in his own image and likeness. Jesus did not give up on them. And he does not give up on you or me today.
Accompaniment to Jesus, was not a way to water down the truth, he always lead people to the truth but his method was and continues to be; to meet people where they are and lead them to the truth. The beauty of this method for us is we are not always set firmly on the truth and in encountering others we might also be lead closer to the truth. Often when people are accompanying each other, both are brought closer to the truth, closer to God, closer to Jesus.
Accompaniment for the Christian requires many things but it begins with grace, then faith, and then a listening to the Holy Spirit. Often this listening to the Holy Spirit is done by listening to the Holy Spirit talking to you through the other.
Let us today challenge ourselves to accompany the other instead of accusing the other. We must remember that the people that Jesus confronted the most were those that only pointed fingers and were unwilling to accompany the other (see the many accounts of Jesus challenging the Pharisees and Scribes).
Accompaniment is hard, it is challenging. I believe it starts in sharing the things we have in common, the things we love and then embracing them in each other. Then, perhaps, we can begin to venture into the areas of disagreement. At the end of the day we may still disagree but we pray; that with God’s help, we will meet again on another day, seeing the beauty in each other a bit clearer than we did the previous day.
May God bless you during this Lenten season.
#anaturewalk #AimHighWalkwithGod