Tonight at BJU there was a required program for the student body. This program, known as Vespers, has been a part of BJU's fine arts program for many years now. They are often in the way of student's study time, or on an evening directly after work when he wants nothing more than to go crash in bed, or when his plans were to go off campus with friends and hang out. But there is a time and a place for everything, and that includes required events, right?
Tonight was about the Gospel and its role in the life of Christians and non-Christians everywhere. Based on true events and people known by the actors, and with no assumed stage-names for the actors, the drama told the story of various people in many different situations. A person whose brother had just committed suicide and was contemplating it herself. Someone whose boyfriend was pressuring her and just wanted her father's love and acceptance no matter what. A girl who liked a guy. Several others.
All of these scenarios hit pretty close to home for me. Almost without exception, I have been on one end or the other of each; sometimes both, at varying points. I've talked somebody away from suicide. I've worked with so many people who are in relationships only because of a baby they didn't expect or because they're afraid of leaving. We all have friends who have relationship problems. I've contemplated suicide myself -- sitting with a loaded shotgun in my hands, staring at it and wondering why. Hurting people are everywhere.
This evening, it felt to me like the Vespers was for my benefit alone. I've often struggled with caring about other people. I've tried to make it a point this year to focus on my relationships with others. As a student, worker, crew leader, roommate... We are all in somebody's life for a purpose. There's so much good we can do! Now, I'm no great expositor by any means. But it seems to me like this Scripture applies. It's from James 3, towards the end of the chapter. "For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere." I want my interactions with others to be characterized by that sort of love. What is the number one reason people are ignored? Because the person who's hurting can't find anybody who cares enough to listen. Why won't we listen? Why brush somebody off? Is it because they're a little weird? They're not the type with whom we normally associate? They're irritating? Selfishness. That's what it boils down to. We're too selfish to love others.
If you're a Christian, you serve a God who has every reason to hate you, punish you, and ignore you for all eternity. Simple fact. But He doesn't! How astounding is that? The same God came to live as we live, to suffer WAY more than we could ever suffer, to die. How stupid of me to think that I have any reason to not love the world.
How do you go about it? The first step is to be there. Be ready to talk. Be ready to listen. Be ready to BE THERE. Don't think about yourself the whole time. Don't be waiting for a pause in the conversation so you can lay down some proverbial smack. Get out into the world, love as Christ loved. Do your friends know that they can talk to you whenever, wherever, however, for whatever reason? Set your priorities. If a person just needs Christ's love, give it to him or her. It's the most important thing you can do. It's why you're here.
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."
