Luke 5:18-20- And behold men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed and they were seeking to bring him in to lay him before Jesus but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst of Jesus. And when He saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
The Hippocratic oath for medical staff has a line that says, “primum, non nocere.” The Latin translation is often, “I will abstain from all intentional wrong-dong and harm,” or simply states, “First, Do no harm…” When I think about this concept, I think about the role of us as believers in the lives of others. There is often two ways to witness. One is to be brutally honest and tell people about sin and another way is to take the role of “loving others” to the extreme that refuses to recognize sin. Neither approach is particularly effective.
In looking at Christ as the example, we see He confronted sin with a loving and graceful heart. He didn’t shy away from controversy and He did not ignore the issues. In fact, he was more honest with the supposed, “Godly people” however still being patient and loving in His manner. I hear people use the term “brother” when they refer to other believers, but in the world of motorcycles the term “brother” is reserved for a few people in our lives. A brother is a person who like in the initial passage is willing to step up and help someone with the focus being on them and not on themselves. A brother is a person who can be relied on to hold on to the rope no matter what, in order to help a person get to the right place in their life. Simply being associated with riding or for that matter the church doesn’t a brother make. It is combination of respect, caring, love and honesty that brings people in to that realm. It is not just a friendship or affiliation. Brotherhood is truly believing that the other person is more important. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "The only gift is a portion of thyself. Thou must bleed for me.” That is consistent with Jesus statement in John 15:13 which says, “Greater love has no man than this, a man lay down his life for his friends.”
My brother, Bill and I had a contentious relationship at times. We fought, we argued but we also fought together and alongside each other when it came down to a threat to either of us. No one was allowed to penetrate the bond from the outside. Brotherhood is more than just a word around an affiliation of some sort and we must be careful that we truly believe that there is a commitment to the other person. As believers in Christ, we should care about others to the extent that they are important and ask ourselves this simple question. “Would I be willing to hold on to the rope to get a person before Christ because that is what they need?” Can someone rely on me to hold the rope in their life as they dangle, knowing that I won’t let go.” Christ didn’t say, ‘you horrible sinner, he pointed out there was in fact sin coupled with the word, forgiven. He didn’t shy away from the person’s sin but he focused his heart on the forgiveness.
Much love
Preach
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