Proverbs 19:6-7
Lots of people flock around a generous person;
everyone's a friend to the philanthropist.
When you're down on your luck, even your family avoids you—
yes, even your best friends wish you'd get lost.
If they see you coming, they look the other way—
out of sight, out of mind.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
If you have ever experienced the breakup or divorce of a couple with whom you were friends or acquaintances, you know how awkward it can be to maintain contact with the parties involved. This has happened to my husband and me… and often, we like both people and really don’t want to choose sides. Sometimes, it seems easier just to avoid both of them than to have to figure out how to deal with such a dicey situation.
Or maybe you know someone who has been injured or come down with a debilitating illness… and all of a sudden, you really don’t know how you are supposed to react to this person – or how to help. So a lot of times, we back off and pretend we are busy or make up some other excuse for not coming around… or we just completely cut the person out of our circle.
And maybe you have been on the “receiving end” of this sort of situation. Maybe because of circumstances beyond your control, things have changed in your life… health, finances, relationships… and you find that people you thought cared about you have disappeared. It happens more often than we want to think… and it hurts.
It’s easy to be friends and acquaintances with healthy, successful, generous people. And sadly, some people hang around these kind of folks because of what is in it for themselves. But God has called us to “love one another”… and that means loving others for themselves – not what they can do for you. This means not waiting to call someone and ask how they are doing until you need to follow that question with, “Listen… I need a big favor.” We are to continue to make the effort to stay in touch with people and love them – even when it’s awkward, or we don’t know how to help, or they seem so down on their luck that they feel like they have nothing to offer another human being.
We are all God’s children. He loves each and every one of us… and to Him, we are all tremendously valuable. If we are going to love one another like true Disciples of Christ, we must love in all circumstances and at all times. Ask yourself some hard questions about the people in your circle… and those from whom you have disconnected. Ask yourself why you surround yourself with some – and why you have distanced from others. The answers might astound you – and you might find that God is calling you to do some shifting in your “circle.”
Be obedient to the will of God… love others not for what they can do for you, but because of who they are and what they mean to you personally. Don’t let “out of sight – out of mind” apply to you and your relationships. Would you want others… or worse yet – God Himself… to treat you this way? Don’t be guilty of offering others any less than you would hope for yourself in relationships. Be a true vessel of the love and light of Christ, and treat others as God instructs you to do so.
©2011 Debbie Robus
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