God in the Alley

Growing up in the church made me know the basics of being a Christian but as I have gotten older my views and opinions of the fundamentals has changed. I have always heard “He came among the poor, not the rich; dwelt with the weak, not the powerful; made himself of no reputation rather than seeking the famous.” Finally Greg Paul put my next thoughts into words: “And he lived and died in submission to our rules and regulations while never being subverted by them.”

I have been told that I am too tolerant, I work too hard to justify certain actions, and I am too worldly, but these statements always have bothered me. I felt like people would be taking away a big part of me if they took those things away from me. Maybe seeing past people’s flaws is part of my childlike innocence that I never lost and I am more than okay with that!

God is love, God wants us to love ourselves, and God wants us to love our neighbors. Not just my fellow church going neighbors but everyone. What if my neighbor is a recovering addict? Have they lost the chance of being shown love despite their past? Jesus walked among them, in their world, so is it so bad if I do the same thing? Would it be better for me to sit back and judge their actions or to walk next to them and learn what their world is like? One could turn them away from Christianity forever and the other could save them for eternity.

Greg Paul also said “I discover a new challenge: to be sent, not just to the streets, but beyond the internal barriers I have erected to protect myself.” What if my neighbor is homeless? I don’t know what has put them on the street and does it really matter? I might get taken advantage of and walked all over but maybe that’s a good thing. That is what I have done to my Father who has wanted nothing but the best for me all along. I do not want internal barriers and walls to keep me from the truth of the broken community around me.

If I became hard hearted and strict about my faith and expect others around me to live up to it am I really doing anyone (including myself) any good? Can I really live in this world just like Jesus did and make an impact on the broken people around me? If I sit and wonder am I just wasting time and procrastinating from the inevitable? If I jump in without weighing all the possibilities will I mess up the work God might already be doing? Is love strong enough, in all situations, that these questions do not even matter? Mother Teresa once said "Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired."

I long to live and die to the submission of rules and regulations while never being corrupted by them.