Devotional
O
ur parents told us, “Don’t take candy from them,” and “Don’t accept rides from them,” and “Don’t even talk to them.” Yet we want someone to talk to us when we are them. Sooner or later we will be them. Strangers, outsiders, aliens, foreigners— people whose complexions, or clothes, or customs, or accents, or occupation, or education level doesn’t fit in the surrounding community. But when we come to think of it, we all have been strangers at one time or another. Do you remember the experience of being a stranger? How long were you guessing where to go or what to do before someone showed you some hospitality—or just basic kindness? Perhaps it’s time to let go of our fear of strangers and
not pass them by but open our hearts to them. Could it be that the stranger is God’s defibrillator for the personal revival we’ve been praying for? Here are six reasons God wants us to love the stranger: 1. The daily news gives us reasons for caution toward strangers, while the good news is reason for compassion toward strangers. God urges us to love
strangers because He loves strangers. He loves us, after all—and we’re the ones who estranged ourselves from Him! By accepting the challenge to love strangers (and a challenge it is), we emulate God’s character. By rejecting opportunities to love strangers, we incur His rebuke: “He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and
God’s Human Defibrillators
Six ways to transform our lives by loving a stranger
