A Thought For The Week Of March 27, 2017

"The one who steals must steal no longer; rather he must labour, doing good with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need." (Ephesians 4:28) This may not be the most important verse in the Bible, but it caught my attention. A concern of mine - because I believe it's a problem in many churches - is how welcoming we are as Christians to people who we find easy to judge. I often wonder about that. If a person who was a known criminal suddenly appeared in the midst of a typical congregation, how would people respond to their presence? No doubt some would be welcoming, but I suspect that there would also be a fair amount of anger, some judgement and that many would just choose to ignore the person and keep a safe distance from them. Those latter three options would hardly be reflections of the teaching of Jesus that "whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me." I found it interesting that Ephesians 4:28 gives instructions to "the one who steals." It's good advice - basically just "don't steal anymore! Change your ways!" You can't really argue with that. But somehow I was pushed to a deeper appreciation of the verse. Ephesians was written for a Christian audience. And it includes guidance to "the one who steals." !!! You don't give advice to people who aren't there. Those few words - so easily skipped over - revealed something huge. It's a biblical injunction for the church to have an open door policy to a whole variety of miscreants, for lack of a better word. This verse just seems to take for granted that some of those who have been stealing are going to be included in Christian communities. And it offers not judgement or condemnation or finger-wagging or threats, but just good, sound instruction. Isn't that really what we should be about: to change people's lives by welcoming them rather than by judging them? I'm wondering how many churches could live up to that example today?