Several years ago, many of you saw the powerful movie, The Passion of Christ. What a comfort-shattering experience that was!! The message of that movie calls us to suffer, too. It insists that we, too, give our lives for others. We are called to leave our comfort zones and dare to get hurt, if necessary, while trying to bring healing to others.
I frequently make the statement that we must die for others, but perhaps I need to explain more carefully what I mean by that. I don't mean that you literally have to 'die'. Rather, I consider that the feelings you have when you do something that is WAAAY out of your comfort zone—that is a form of dying to yourself. We quite naturally prefer to protect ourselves from hurt, discomfort, risk by staying with where we are familiar and comfortable. We don't like to move out of our comfort zones, but when we do, in the name of Jesus, we are sharing his love. (And that was WHY he died . . . to share his love.) So, whenever I walk across the room, (introvert that I may be) and welcome a stranger, (as ineptly as I may do it) I am dying for her. And in dying for her, I am resuscitating her, raising her a little, from the dead.
I beg you to take total ownership of every room you sit in, or enter.
I beg you to take leadership in noticing who is there and intentionally approaching whoever might possibly be alone.
I implore you to endeavor (in some faulty, trembling, inarticulate way, if necessary) to include them and bring them IN.
JUST BE THERE!! Though we must think of every human being as ‘the walking wounded’, our task is not to fix them. Fixing is underway when we greet the stranger, or lift the spirits of anyone. With total trust, we leave the deliberate fixing to God, who CAN fix their hurts.
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