It's common to hear that Americans have a consumption problem.
We consume too many calories, too much gas, and too much tv. We spend more than we save. We import more than we export. We take more than we give.
This may be true but when it comes to people we have the opposite issue.
We have a reduction problem.
We love to reduce people to the parts of their identity we most disagree with. Reduce them to the categories of people we can't stand.
He's a democrat.
She's a lesbian.
That family voted for Trump.
They're "just from a different part of town."
And my favorite from middle school. You're a ginger! You don't have a soul! Seriously…what does that even mean?
When we open our Bible we find Pharisees doing the same thing.
"Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:1-2).
"Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner” (Luke 7:39).
The Pharisees were experts at excusing themselves from relationships by reducing their neighbors to types of people.
And we're no better.
Like the Priest who walks past a dying man story of the Good Samaritan, we don't care. We have things to do and people to see.
We have our own purity to worry about.
But there’s a better way.
In God’s Kingdom things are different.
In the Gospels, Jesus does the exact opposite of the Pharisees. He doesn’t see types of people to avoid. He sees sees people to love, to enter into relationship with.
And as those who belong to God’s people so do we. So can we.
Filled with Holy Spirit vision, we don't see categories. We see people.
People who are wonderfully and fearfully created in God’s image.
People who were made to rule and reign with Jesus.
People who are suffering and in need of a break.
People who are incredibly, uniquely gifted.
That guy you don't like because he's a Democrat? He's six years sober and spends his free time as an AA sponsor, helping others climb out of the hole he once knew.
He's more than his voting history.
That family you avoid while walking your dog because they have a Trump flag? Their youngest son is a cancer survivor and they're paying off a mountain of medical debt. They're struggling and just looking for relief.
They are more than the flag in their yard.
Your co-worker who is a lesbian and makes you uncomfortable? She is a gifted artist with hopes and dreams of painting full time. Every Saturday she drives 2 hours to visit the grandmother who raised her.
She is more than her sexuality.
With Holy Spirit vision people aren't reduced, they're enhanced. They're seen for more than the categories others put them in. They're seen as struggling, fractured, gifted, and beautiful works of God’s art.
When we fail to see this, we fail to see God at work.
We fail to see others as Jesus did.
One Book I’m Reading: Garden City
At first glance, this is just another book about how our work relates to our faith.
But it’s so much more.
It’s a book about how to be human.
About how to live in God’s world and reign with Jesus.
To anyone struggling to understand how their work “fits” with their faith, this is the book for you.
One Thing I Love: This Tweet 👇
That’s it for this week’s newsletter. If you found it encouraging, would you forward it to a friend?