Avoided and Forgotten

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:17

This verse is overlooked, and I think that it is often forgotten as it is over shadowed by its big brother that comes right before it. As Christians I think we should live this, and as humans we avoid it because it means we have to act, and deny ourselves the pleasure of condemning others. We derive pleasure from standing over others, and asserting ourselves as superior. We should be servants.

Wait... Servants? We're children of the king, we should be treated royally. We should not be serving others. Wrong! Jesus, the kings of kings, washed the feet of his followers. Feet that are dirty from the dust of the road, filthy in a way that we today rarely comprehend. God himself was washing the lowly feet of fishermen and tax collectors. We won't even smile at a homeless man. We turn our backs on the fatherless child, and far be it that we help the mother out. She's a whore and slut, she deserves to struggle and we would dirty our hands should we help them. We don't want to associate ourselves with the sinners... And we condemn them by our actions. And by condemning them we condemn ourselves. Our actions say, we are more important than others, and those others think that God values those people more. God's heart is broken by the sin that we commit in these actions. How can we claim to follow Christ? We can't even care for the least of these. Humbled I am, and ashamed. I have not lived this... Far from it. The anger and disgust expressed here is at my past self, and who I used to be, and who I no longer wish to be. We need to rise up, brothers and sisters, and live this out more than ever in these days.

Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Matthew 25:45-46