Indlela (okungesiyo) Yokusindisa Umhlaba: Iqiniso Ngokudalula Uthando LukaNkulunkulu Kubantu Abaseduze KwakhoIsampula

How (Not) to Save the World: Fight to Be Right

When I was eighteen years old, my dad died from cancer. My little brother, Elijah, was twelve.

Elijah shut down emotionally and would not speak to anyone about what he was feeling. He didn’t want to talk about my dad, much less, God. It seemed there was no way to connect with him. 

I was hundreds of miles away at college, and when I would call to ask how he was doing, all he wanted to do was talk about comic books. I soon realized that if I wanted to have a relationship with my brother, I had to immerse myself in his world. I had to start reading comic books. Not just on a shallow level, but I needed to fall in love with what he loved. I needed to learn how he saw the world. Over the next couple of months, whenever I’d call him, we had a lot to talk about. 

When we take the time to enter someone else’s world, we can speak more effectively into their real life. So often we want to do and say the right thing, but we don’t consider the context of who is listening on the other end of our perfected, spiritual speeches. 

Often, we can get mad at those in our lives who are not where we want them to be, and don’t see the world the way we see it. We want them to step into our world. To effectively show who Jesus really is and the life He truly offers, we need to step into their world, learn their words and ways, and fight for the relationship. We need to love others as God has loved us. Before they love us, love them. Before they choose us, choose them. Before they step into our world, step into theirs. 

Fighting to be right? That’s the perfect plan of how (not) to save the world. 

We need to stop fighting to be right, and start fighting for our relationships. 

It was about eleven years later when my brother told my husband and I that he wanted to give his life to Jesus. Eleven years of learning who my brother was on a deeper level, caring about what he cared about, and investing in the relationship. 

One of the names of Jesus is Immanuel, meaning God with us. He calls us to be with people too. To hear why they’re hurting. To be present in their pain.

Many times your greatest witness will be your with-ness.

God is asking us to really get to know people so that they can really know Him. It won’t be easy, but it will change lives. It will help others know how loved they are. Nobody hates being loved.

Respond

Who can you come alongside and be with, right where they are? Whose lens of the world can you learn?

What is at risk if Christ-followers are always fighting to be right, instead of fighting for relationships?

How would our families, our churches, and our world look differently if we were all fighting for people, not against people, and fighting for our relationships?