Better together – Roberta Writes

The other day I was reading in Luke. Two verses caught my attention and got my mind whirling.

Luke 5: 31-32 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

It’s us! We are sinners. We are the sick.

He came for us. Do we act like he came for us?

I don’t always live this way. I expect blessings and positive things because I’ve made good choices, because I’m a good Christian. I catch myself feeling angry when things don’t go my way as I have been a good servant and I deserve to be compensated.

Maybe you don’t feel this way. Which is excellent. But if I’m truly being honest, I do. I think it’s a natural reaction. But just because its natural doesn’t mean its right.

The truth is I’m a sinner. I don’t deserve anything from God. And yet he gives it freely to me. I’m no better than the lowest murderer in prison, even though the world would tell me I am. Regardless of what the wisdom of man says, I’m not better. I’m ever bit as human. I am a sinner.

Humility is the position in which I should approach God. Head down afraid to look up, should be my posture.

Why did Christ say this? He was asked why he was hanging out with lowly people like tax collectors. The people asking him this obviously thought that there was a hierarchy of people. Some people are better than others. Some people are worth Jesus’ time, some are not.

Do I do this? Do I decide that I am better than other people? Because I’ve made better choices, I’ve lived a better life, or I have better opinions and ideas? OUCH! Maybe I need a bit more humility on this front too.

Deciding to humble myself before the creator is understandable. That I get. Humbling myself among my equals… takes more convincing.

But maybe humility is the key to peace and understanding. What if we approach people as though they are of equal value? What would happen to our world? I posit that this would be revolutionary. Much of our conflict and strife would disappear.

Wait a minute… Love God, Love your neighbour! Could it be that simple?

The last few days on my social media feed I’ve been seeing lots of the Bell Let’s Talk campaign. Everyone is showing concern about mental health. Friends are posting kind thoughts and reposting articles. It’s a good thing. It is always good to draw attention to our mental health.

Mental health is a tricky thing. We are strange coping creatures. We can go and go and go and then just crack. Or we can be tough as nails when we need to be and then fall apart when the crisis is over. We can struggle with relationships and with situations. Lumping all these things under the umbrella of ‘mental health’ is some how inadequate.

I’ve been thinking of a friend of mine over the last few days. We weren’t close, we didn’t see each other often, but we were long term friends. One morning, completely out of the blue, a close friend called to say he was dead, that he shot himself in the night.

I have thought of him often over the last couple years. My heart aches for his pain but my mind can’t quite take it in, even now. I have no answers, no platitudes. When I think of it I am just overwhelmed with sadness. I’m not naïve enough to think I could have prevented it, we weren’t that close. I am not the person he would have called if he could have called someone.

What I can do is think of him as I interact with others. I can be kind. I can try to be empathetic, particularly to those closest to me. While I appreciate the kind words on Facebook, lets never think that is a substitute for calling, watching our loved ones, or doing what we can in person. We need people. We need human contact.

Human interactions and the ability to show God’s love to one another is our best defense in the fight for healthy minds.

1 Peter 4: 8 Above all, love each other deeply,
because love covers over a multitude of sins.