During a conversation with a friend the other day, we commiserated about how many Christians tend to look for friends who are exactly like them.
"I used to be like that," I told her. "But pretty soon, I realized that even the people who I thought were exactly like me - WEREN'T! And then my world got pretty small."
In the past ten years since I made that realization, I've tried to broaden my horizons. My friends sometimes read different things than I do, use different curriculum than I do, have more or less money than me, find different things important than I do, let their kids do different things than I allow mine to do, and even practice their religions differently than I do.
Did you notice the repetition in that paragraph? The word "different" plays a key role. I have found it freeing and enlightening to be friends with people who are different from me. I know I have a long way to go in this, but I've come a long way too.
How about you? Do you hang out with people who are just like you - at least on the outside? Or are your friends a diverse group?
How about trying something different? Make friends with someone this week who isn't "just like you". Maybe you'll learn something! Maybe you can be a blessing! Maybe you can even shine the love of Jesus into someone's life, perhaps even for the first time!
1 comment:
I could write a book on this subject.. but I'm afraid most people would throw tomatoes at me!
I've been on both sides... alienated (sp?) from a local co-op because I wasn't Baptist...and literally shunned! It was creepy, weird and pathetic. Makes me shudder to even think about it...
Yet, I have many secular "friends" whom I can only pray for...and I do.
I do happen to leave the room around Jehovah Witnesses and palm-reading cults!
Okay-- I'll stop now, before I say something to offend someone...
:) Mich.
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