How to Love and Reach Out To Someone Who is a Less Desirable Societal Person

Q: As a Christian how can i best love someone who is not a believer and not a desirable member of society like Jesus would have?
As a Christian, loving someone who is not a believer or is considered undesirable by society can be a challenging task, if indeed, you are a respecter of persons.  However, it is just another serendepidous act of kindness in the life of a believer who is walking in Holy Spirit, continuing to dy to the old man or the fleshly “carton” as my friend used to say.  Unless, we partake of His “flesh and blood, which is dying to our own and accepting his own as ours, we will find living out the gospel message an impossible task.  Why?  It is in the smallest acts of kindness or movements of our daily life we can find ourselves walking out our walking “IN’ the Spirit or walking in the flesh. It only takes a moment to find ourselves outside His presence.  So the only way we can walk here 24/7 is to as the epistles teach, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling;” and in another place we are commissioned to “walk as Jesus walked”  and again, “Unless you hate your wife, your mother, your father, your sister, and brother and children and even your own life, you cannot be my disciple. If there comes into your environemt a person that is less than desireable …..you must give them either a meal, have him sit in a good seat, or a drink of cold water.  There innumerable ways you can minsiter to this person in the Spirit.  But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your heart……..take heed.
Here are just a few examples of how you can best love someone you encounter that might “turn you off.” 
1. First pray and ask the Lord how you can love them and what you can do to make them feel comfortable and loved and important.  Then follow the leading.  If you are not able to hear the Lord, then just be as kind as you can and reach out to them to show them you care, maybe by listening to them speak, and offer kind words of encouragement.  The important thing is to listen.  Ask God to help you make that person feel like they are the most important person in your life right now.  You will be amazed how you find His love flowing through you.

1. Show genuine care and concern: Jesus demonstrated unconditional love by showing concern for people’s well-being, regardless of their status or beliefs. We can follow His example by reaching out to those who may be struggling and showing them that we care. For example, you could offer to listen to their problems, provide them with a meal, or simply offer a kind word of encouragement.

2. Avoid judgment and condemnation: As Christians, it is not our place to judge or condemn others. Instead, we are called to love them as Jesus loves us. This means accepting them for who they are, even if we do not agree with their choices or lifestyle. .

3. Pray for them: A prayer is a powerful tool that can help us love others in difficult situations. We can pray for those who do not believe, asking God to open their hearts and minds to the gospel message. We can also pray for those who are struggling with addiction, homelessness, or other issues, asking God to provide them with the support and resources they need.  You might even need to pay for a hotel room, (like the good Samaritan who found the guy beaten up along side the road in his travels. He then after he paid for a weeks stay, came back by and paid whatever else was needed.) Jesus told this parable because he expected us to do this.

I was living my life, in the place at the time with no heat.  I was having to heat with only a fire place and there was no insulation in the basement. I had shut off the back side of the house and buying wood from anyone that might be able to supply.  This one young man had an ad on marketplace; I called him and he brought me some wood.  He could only go out after dark as he had no license nor plates, but I didn’t know that.  The back windshield of his pickup had been busted out as well.  I offered him a jalapeno cheese stick…..I said, would you like this?  He was so grateful as he said he hadn’t eaten all day.  I told him I was going to go inside and make him some soup.  Fortunately I had bone broth, rice already cooked and some canned chicken and celery and onions.  I made him some chicken soup and he was so grateful.  He noticed my scripture cards there on the table and began reading them.  “I love these, he exclaimed. “Really?” I was surprised he would say such.  I realized I had judged him. I figured he was spending his money on booze or drugs or something other than what he needed to spend his money on.  I realized I had judged him and was grateful that I was able to share a bowl of soup with this lonely soul.  He looked like he had been through a lot. I never knew his background until months later.

I received a call at 2 am in the morning from the jail up the road. He had been arrested and his girlfriend happened to be in the truck with him and she too was arrested.  They had no reason to hold her so they were releasing her and she couldn’t go back to where they were staying as his brother was a dangerous person and would not treat her kindly.  He asked me if I would pick her up and care for her a while till he could figure out what he was doing.  I was in a quandry…..here I was all by myself a woman in my 60’s and being called on to go out in the middle of the night to pick up a wayfaring stranger.  I had to think about it only for a minute.  When your brother asks you for a piece of bread, do you say no?  “When your brother slaps you on one cheek, turn the other also,”  Well if this “brother” sister in this case was not going to be too safe for me, then God would just have to protect me. I had no reason to say no after I considered the word of God and my requirements before my Lord.  I picked her up and she stayed with me and we talked about the bible and Jesus and I bought her cigarettes and gave her some clothes as everything she had was at the place where they had stayed.  She wanted to get her things and I was a bit apprehensive about going over there, but I was hoping she would be able to leave some of that lifestyle behind and so we went over to where she was staying.  It was a dump and the brother came out and gave us fits.  I began talking to him about feeding his brother that night when he came over because he told me he had not eaten all day….and told him, “God has called us to love one another”  This young man was a real drug dealer but he began to cry.  I suppose they were puppy dog tears. As he started quoting the bible to me and gave this girl real fits.  Nevertheless, she was able to have a warm place to stay till her boyfriend could pick her up.  It was an experience I will never forget.  She told me of being a prostitute and leaving 4 children in foster care because she couldn’t take care of them….said her previous husband beat her and she ran away.  We never know what life has instore for us, but if we are willing and obedient we will eat the good of the land.

The next year, I had several miracles happen while I was staying in the home.  I was able to put heat in the house and a friend of mine paid for spraying foam insulation in the basement so the heat would be retained. God is so good and so faithful if we but trust Him. .

4. Serve them: Jesus showed His love by serving others, and we can follow His example by serving those in need. This could involve volunteering at a local shelter or food bank, donating to a charity that helps those in need, or simply being willing to help out a neighbor or friend who is going through a tough time.

5. Share the gospel with them: While we should never force our beliefs on others, we can share the gospel message with those who are open to hearing it. This could involve sharing our own testimony, inviting them to church, or simply being willing to answer questions about our faith.

In summary, as Christians, we are called to love others as Jesus loves us, regardless of their beliefs or social status. We can do this by showing genuine care and concern, avoiding judgment and condemnation, praying for them, serving them, and sharing the gospel message with those who are open to hearing it.

As we endeavor to walk in obedience to the words of Jesus, we find that there is something in our natures that ressists doing God’s weill. In Romans 8:6, 7 Paul called this the carnal mind. Jesus told us to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him  Luke 9:23 “And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”  He is speaking of our cross.  The one we take up daily; the one upon which we sacrifice our idease, our desires, our plans, our feelings.  We bow and say, “Yes, Lord,” to His will; to His command.  The way of life is through death.  “Truly, Truly I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone; but if it dies, it produces (or brings forth) much fruit.” John 12:24. The Lord has given us the means to crucify self, but we must do it.  His words, His commands are the means and of course, HIS grace. If we want life we will apply the means found in His message.  “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart and you will find rest for your soul.”  The rest, is what we read about in Hebrews Chapter 3, “As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.  Why did they not enter?  Not be cause of sin, but unbelief.” 
We are not called to be involved with the world.  Jesus sent a disciple to take a coin out of a fish’s mouth to pay their taxes.  HELLO?  We are not to be of this world, even as Jesus was not of this world.”  John states it quite bluntly, 1 Jn 2:15, “If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him.”  Jesus said, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,”  Matt 6:19 and “Take no thought for your life, verse 25, “A man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things he possesses,”  Luke 12:13.  There is a low of the Kingdom which states, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also, Luke 12:34
Jesus always spoke in parables to be better able to understand how the Kingdom of God could work……then also, He spoke in parables lest those that were not of the fold would see and want to be converted, and not have truly repented.  The tree of Life became guarded when Adam and Eve were cast ouf of the garden….lest they eat of it and remain in the state they were in.  There had now, to be a sacrifice made for their sins.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Again”  “Thy words are a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
Thy words are forever settled in heaven.
True love can only be wrought in the Spirit of Agape, otherwise it remains of the old natuer and it can’t help be selfish.  Sorry, but that’s not what I say, it is what the bible has said over and over
“Esau I have hated and Jacob I have loved”  What does that mean?  Is there unrighteousness in God?  Of course not, it is another example of how much it cost Christ for the sacrifice He made so that we could put off the old man and put on the new man who is clothed in Christ Jesus.
Consider this my brethren.
……to be continued
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