A building never looks the same on the back. It's not detailed, decorated, nor does it hold up a sign that welcomes you in. In most cases, it is the ugly side. The side that doesn't matter because no one is going to pay attention to it. As long as it has a pretty front, that is all that matters. The buildings that we see that only pay attention to what is on the front side are like the perspectives we have when we only look at someone through our own eyes. Through our emotions, our opinions, and our abilities, we look at someone and judge according to our own. We aren't the owner, and we don't enter through the back. We enter a shopping center, enter through the front, get what we want, and then leave.
I'm not entirely comparing human beings and social behavior to the whole of buildings in general. But it came to mind how we almost treat people like they are a store. If it looks good in the front and has what we need, we'll go in. But do we ever take the time to consider what someone looks like through their perspective? Through entering the back of a building? Through standing behind the register? Do we understand that each person created on this world comes into this world the same way you do? A helpless baby who will grow into what he or she believes based off of how those around them while growing up act and treat them.
Every human being is a sum total of all the influences that surrounded them through all the years they live. And if that's the case, then our existence in each person's life is more important than we know. When someone is angry, they have reasons. Deep reasons that we may not know until we step into their shoes and get a glimpse of why. We can stand in front of them and not bother asking, or we can sit beside them and listen. When someone is sad, there are built up emotions, fears, or experiences that has weighed them down. Will we walk past them or sit beside them and empathize?
I like to say I've been living my life a little more uniquely than the average human being. I notice this by the advice people give me when I'm undergoing tough times. There is more of a praise in "Stand up for yourself, don't deal with those people, and move on" than there is in saying, "Be humble, love anyway, and consider those around you." I look at Jesus and His life and can't help but see how He chose to sit with sinners, with the people the dominant culture was screaming, "Don't sit with those people! They're not good enough! They're unclean!" But Jesus took the oppressed people's side. He saw them being abused and He came over and gave them hope and life. Isn't that what He's asking us to do as well?
That mindset is how I choose to approach each person and trial that I face. When my fear says, "Run away" and my peers agree, God says, "I'll give you rest, stop running." I then find myself with this urge and softening of heart to change my ways from what the world agrees on and portray the ways that God designed in His word. This includes shifting my focus from my own problems and my own self to any other person involved or those around me. To stand up for the people that do not feel good enough and give them a love that not many people bothered to give. My goal is to give those who lack what they need something greater.
Love and care is not a formula, nor can it be defined by words. It's not something you give a definition to, it's something you choose to do. Sometimes it's hard to love when others wrong us, but it's more powerful than anger. Love is giving of yourself and sacrificing what may be important to you and letting the other person benefit instead. Love is listening to their cries and tending to their needs. It's the willingness to lay down your life for them if they were in danger. Love is the willingness to go out of your way to clothe the person if they're naked, feed the person if they're hungry, and give water if they're thirsty (James 2:15-17).
I must say, I have quite the big heart for not only the marginalized, but for the people that seem to hide from the world out of fear. Those are the people I want to sit beside and simply say, "I'm here for you, if you need anything." How great is our God that He would send Jesus into the world to simply empathize with us? How great is our God that He wanted to say to us, "This is how much I love you. That I would stand up for you when you were attacked and I would save you." This is the God I want to continuously follow throughout my days because He cares for me and for those around me.
Until you experience this kind of love, this sort of sacrifice, and this humbleness, you may not know the truest feeling of what it means to follow Christ. Listen to the hearts around you, change your perspective on life, and let yourself sit down next to someone and say, "I'm here for you, if you need anything." Wait if they need a moment and get to know their struggles, their life and their hopes or dreams. Get to know their favorite hobby--give them HOPE that they're not alone. Support them when they feel no one else cares. BE the change in their life. BE the hope. BE the light. Care as much for their favorite food as you do for their biggest goal in life. If the small things matter as much as the big things, then you'll find yourself actually caring.
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