I haven’t written about my one word lately… Moment.  This weekend though I had a moment that needs to be shared.    This is a wide net being caste, I get that…but knowing what I do now after this moment.  If I am am doing this many others are as well…

A while back I wrote about condemnation, and this weekend I was brought face to face with how condemnation was alive in my own life.

To set the stage.  Sitting at a table of with 9 Men this weekend,  5 white men, 4 Black men.  The topic we were discussing:  What keeps us from interacting with people who are not like us?  We were talking about the general concept of this, but because of the mix of the group we focused on racial issues.  And honestly what was said and shared could be said about any two groups of people.   The idea of projection of lifestyle came up.  We talked about how our experiences, and perception of reality project a certain expectation of  life style on a person or group of people.  We expect them to act a certain way.

One of the men offered this:  I am a black man, well educated, and been in the Military.  You would not know this unless you asked or I told you.  Just like I would not know about you until I asked or you told me.  To this day, I walk down the street and if I am approaching a white woman she will switch her purse to the opposite shoulder.  I have learned to expect that.

Immediately the teaching of Jesus and the plank in the eye came to my head.  Quickly I turned to Matthew 7 and read through the passage.

   ³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

I looked up at this man and said:  The word is not projection, it is condemnation.  The word condemnation means to sentence someone to a punishment. The woman switching her purse is using her reality to judge and condemn you to a certain lifestyle or action.  Heck even I have had/have those thoughts, and I have condemned you and others to that lifestyle.  So much so that you now expect a certain reaction from a white person when you meet them…  GULP!!!!

See how this gets all twisted?  99% of the time when you meet someone for the first time you know nothing of substance about them and you form and opinion even before the first words of introduction are spoken.

I am not suggesting these people are our enemies, but Jesus in Luke uses that context of enemies to tell us how we should love those different than us:

Luke 6:32-26   ³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

In no certain order as I/you type/read this list:

The unchurched,the unbeliever, the dope dealer, the man on the street asking for money, the alcoholic, the TV preacher, the side walk prophet, the emotional wreck, the angery, the prideful, the lustful, the homesexual, the black, the rich, the white, the poor, the Asian, the Hispanic,  the Muslim, the Hindu, the the adulter, the prostitute, the greedy, the people that live next door, the person who sits alone at lunch at the office, the person in the BMW, the person buying the 64 inch 3d TV…. Heck just even typing this list I can think of the ways I have condemned each one in my own thoughts.

And this is where Christ comes in.  It is only  with him and through him and because of Him that we can over come that condemnation.  That in the moment we meet someone we see them for how Christ sees them, and accept them for who they  are love them,.  Then let Christ do the real work in their hearts.