Jeremy L. Berg

Here’s an oldie but goodie from the earliest DI archives written to the Revolutionary teenagers in Mound a few years back.  Always a good reminder of how radically loving and inclusive our Lord and Savior is.  Peace, JB

“When you host a dinner or a banquet, don’t invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors so you can be invited by them in return and get repaid. But when you host an elaborate meal, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:12-14)

We tend to spend most of our time with people just like us. It’s comfortable and safe. We find ourselves feeling more awkward about ourselves around strangers. What does this say about ourselves and our sources of comfort? It seems to suggest that our self-confidence and self-assurance are somehow dependent upon the people we are around.

Yet, Revolutionary disciples of Jesus are people beginning to realize that our self-confidence — our entire identity — should be wrapped up in our relationship to our loving God who made us in His image and calls us His beloved. Once we are secure in God’s embrace and standing firm on His promises, then we can begin to expand social circles we inhabit. We can stretch out our personal comfort zones and push the boundaries we have created to keep us feeling secure.

As we begin to draw our life, significance and worth from our Father God, then we can begin to reach out to others who are unlike us — the people who otherwise make us uncomfortable. We can feel more secure talking to strangers (unless they’re offering you candy from their car!), hanging out with new people, inviting a crush to the next dance, going to that first job interview or even eating at a different lunch table this coming week.

In the passage above, Jesus instructs his followers to invite everyone EXCEPT their close friends and family or rich neighbors to the next dinner party! Why? Because our friends, family and rich neighbors are the people we are tempted to make our source of comfort, security and significance. God wants to provide those things. In fact, only God is big enough to provide those things. Jesus doesn’t want us to become those people who constantly try to “suck life” from others. God wants us Revolutionaries to be overflowing with the life, love, and significance that comes from a relationship with Him so that we can instead POUR OUT God’s goodness on those who need it most — “the poor, crippled, lame and blind.”

In your case, perhaps it’s the loner, the girl with blue hair, the guy in all black with tattoos, the nerds, the sports jocks, drama club, etc. Who are those people you usually avoid? They are the ones Jesus encourages us to eat and share God’s love with. But we can only begin to live this Revolutionary way if we are drawing our life from God!

Are you nervous around new people? That’s ok. I am too. However, it does point to the fact that at times we may be still basing our self-worth and personal comfort on what others think of us or how they treat us. If we are finding our self-worth in God, then we don’t need others’ approval as much.

Do you tend to only associate with people who are just like you? That may mean that you are seeking comfort in being around familiar people. If our self-assurance was rooted in the fact that we are God’s beloved children, bought with the life of God’s own Son, and loved with an everlasting love, then we may feel more secure around people who are different than us.

I have realized that I need to go out of my way to invite people UNLIKE me into my circle, and to GO OUT and make friends with those are don’t look like me, act like me, and believe what I believe. Maybe you can try the same thing at school.

So, who are you inviting to sit at your lunch table? WWJSB?  Who would Jesus sit by?