Love Where You Live By Shauna PilgreenSample

Day Three

Letting Go

Scripture: John 13:34–35

Before I moved to San Francisco with my family, I shoved my theology and upbringing into my already overstuffed suitcase, certain they would be useful for defense and justification and in sharing the gospel if I were asked. I wasn’t moving sent. I was moving superior. Yet within hours of arrival into my new home, I quickly noticed that people weren’t like me, and what I had packed wasn’t going to be needed here. Conveniently, a big dumpster was already positioned outside our apartment. Once I tossed my ideals and superiority, I was awakened to see these people and this place with wide-eyed wonder. 

I felt like God tapped me on the shoulder and invited me on a life-altering walk to see the diversity, the brokenness, and the beauty in our city. I could choose to keep nearby my files of “what I like to do, how I will spend my time, what works best for me, and the gospel according to my previous culture”, or I could pay attention to the God who had sent me here for a purpose beyond what I could comprehend. 

As I looked around, I realized I had needs too, and the people pointed me to my greatest need. My life inside the walls of the church was flipped inside out as I became more at home with people who had yet to step inside those walls. I began to see God in the train stations, high-rise apartments, and tech companies. It was messy and hard and utterly beautiful.

I could see that God didn’t fit in a box with rules and regulations. He is with Salem on the street, and Kay at the abortion clinic, and Diane who thinks Someone is up there somewhere. God is moving obstacles that have kept people from walking closer to Him and removing blinders so others might see Him. And I’m getting to be a part of it all. He’s rocking my theology of “me” and “them.” He’s revealing the ugliness in my heart and my daily, hourly, momentary need of the Savior. My heart is still growing in love with the people of my city, because I am choosing to encounter the God of the city—not the god of my theology and ideas. 

In what ways do your expectations and background influence how you interact with people in your neighborhood? Your city?