I Became All Things To All People- Renee

​Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

1 Corinthians 9:19‭-‬23 NIV
http://bible.com/111/1co.9.19-23.NIV

The past few days have been hard on every imaginable level. I’ve been two weeks without my son (who has been having a blast with his dad). There have been nonstop debates on my FB timeline about police shootings, racism, allies, people calling others liars, babies….I’ve seen live video of two men losing their lives. right.on.camera.

Now, I wakeup to riots and protests….at first I was anxious, upset, troubled. Not saying that those feelings have completely subsided, but I have a different perspective. 

The problem is, I’ve grown up in America, where for the most part many of these issues (although just right below the surface) are hidden pretty well. Not always, but usually things are done or said in a more covert way. Not saying that is right, but it does help you to sometimes forget how fallen our world truly is. I know this is not the case for many of my brothers and sisters around the world who endure wars, famine disease and other ails more regularly. 

The events over the last two days have been a powder keg explosion  of everything in our Nation’s soul. The Bible says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, this means everything we are seeing, experiencing and battling first came and dwelled in someone’s heart. It was always there. Always. 

But this is nothing new. Ethnic cleansing,  slavery, discrimination, hate…it’s nothing new, that cancer has always been on earth. The problem is we rarely identify with any of those things, because “oh that happens to those people over there.  But we are those people. We are called to be like those who hurt, who are hungry, who are enslaved, because when you do that, you restore humanity. You are able to now identify with that individual on a personal level. That was the ministry of Jesus. He took those people and brought them under His loving care. He didn’t talk specifically to their gender, religious beliefs etc…he first spoke to their human need. Need for love, for food, for physical healing and THEN He worked on the spiritual aspect.

We overspirtualize His process. He met needs, He saw people as people first and He mourned with those who mourned and then took action.

We tend to want to take action immediately or not mourn at all or not do anything because  *shrugs* it’s not my problem..

Not saying that every cause should be directly on your heart (it’s why we are the BODY of Christ, each having areas of focus). But if you are living on this planet and absolutely NOTHING bothers you..You are spirtually dead or on life support. There are hurting people all around, who need Who we know. 

If we are unable to share that during good and bad times..what good is our religion?