The Playground

It's a relief to me to know that my eternal life is based on my own walk with God, and not other people's opinion of my walk with God. In the midst of harsh judgement it's comforting to know that I'm in fact not a wayward backslider as many people suppose. I am also thankful that I'm currently not mired in a pit of sin because I'm afraid if I was, everyone would be too disgusted by my offensive filth to be "Christian" and would instead run away or ignore me or judge me.

I'm often struck by the irony when a group of people claim to serve God and yet hate their neighbors. But as the young man in scripture asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" Maybe that's what these judges ask now. Maybe I don't qualify as neighbor and should therefore not receive the loving-kindness Christ embodies. It's truly a good thing that I'm not whithering away under addictions, abuse, depression, anger, self-doubt or all the many bondages to which people are enslaved. I think that if I was, I'd have to trust the mercies of any other social agency rather than subject myself to the judgements of these pharisaical christians.

At the end of the parable of the Good Samaratin in Luke 10, Jesus reiterates the question, "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was a neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?" The young man answered, "He that shewed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do thou likewise."

It's a simple fact: If you're not showing mercy, you're not showing God.