Image by Lukas Baumert from Pixabay

“If you light a lamp for someone else it will also brighten your path.” – Buddha

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Deuteronomy 10:17-19

For the LORD, your God, is the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who has no favorites, accepts no bribes, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving them food and clothing. So you too should love the resident alien, for that is what you were in the land of Egypt.

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Human beings haven’t changed much over thousands of years when it comes to casting-out the “other.”

It seems to be the pathology of dualism, when we set up a system of who’s in and who’s out.

Of course, the person setting up the system is always deemed “in” while the person who is different in some way is “out.”

People who are being run by their egos love to define themselves by who they are against.

Perhaps God gave us so many differences in ethnicities, skin colors, and religions, not to mention areas of gender and sexual orientation, just so we can all be tested as to seeing our common humanity beyond the differences.

St. Paul touched on this when he said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

Today’s Old Testament text shows that God has no favorites and loves the alien, the foreigner if you will.

And God’s command is that we should as well.

Jesus made this teaching quite clear when he said: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me” (Matthew 25:35-36).

Jesus placed no conditions on this instruction, such as, “Feed the hungry only if they deserve it.”

Jesus then made it very personal when he said, “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40).

I recently saw a commercial for a local politician in which he talks about the importance of his faith and then ends with, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”

This is a completely warped view of a Christian life!

Jesus did not exult winning but taught that we should reach out to and even join the apparent losers, the least of these.

I’m convinced that many Christians today have bought-in to a “churchianity,” a comfortable religion that they have fashioned to fit their lifestyle and ideologies.

Jesus continues to be thrown-out and executed today.

And the ones doing it are many times self-proclaimed Christians!

No wonder there are so many atheists and agnostics!

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Listen to the song of the day “Mercy Reigns” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!