Really?!?Sample

Open Your Heart

Think back to your days in school. Remember the pressure you felt to make friends with the right people? When I was 13, I wasn’t the coolest kid, but I still tried to finagle my way into the “cool crowd.” You know, the ones who had their favorite band name written on their backpack and had more facial hair than a middle-aged man. Yeah, I wanted to be with them.

I persisted in trying to break into the facial-haired friend group with no success. In fact, those kids treated me terribly and made Jr. High some of the worst years of my life.

Life can be funny, though, can’t it? Ten years later, I was sitting in Starbucks and saw one of those “cool kids” in a chair across the room. He and I made eye contact, but because he didn’t remember me, I walked over and struck up a conversation. It didn’t take long for me to realize that he had no idea about the kind of pain he caused me growing up.

So I was faced with a choice. One option was to yell, throw my coffee, and storm out of Starbucks. Another option was to sit down and get to know the person I never really knew in the first place. Fortunately, I chose the latter. And it was difficult at first because I had more emotions and questions than I knew what to do with. But as I got to know this person and genuinely ask questions about his life, I began to realize how much hurt and pain he was carrying through Jr. High and into adulthood. Just like me.

My enemy slowly became my friend. Best friends? Maybe not. But friends, nonetheless.

I tell that story because I think it’s what Jesus is talking about in Luke 6. The truth is that people are usually enemies because we haven’t taken time to connect with them. When we understand someone’s perspective, our opinion of them changes, doesn’t it?

For the sake of unity, who do you need to get to know genuinely? Who do you need to have a conversation with at school, church, home, or work?