Today started horribly as I had woken up from a nightmare that surely my fear had attempted to use to worsen my day and mood. My best bud's family had turned their backs on me and they called me annoying and they disliked me. One of my worst fears being exhibited in a nightmare that was beyond my comprehension and left me in a mortified state that I couldn't sleep well the rest of the night. I shudder every time I remembered it today, but eventually I let go of it after a few encouraging words told me not to give into the fear that sin was plaguing me with to break me down. I didn't give in, and in turn, I received a reward from God later today that I will surely not forget.
On to the main topic for today's post. I was talking with my distant friend again, seeing as I was subsiding my conversations with my best bud for another time to give us both a break. Of course, I would talk to my distant friend in either situation. We had a somewhat philosophical discussion on the topic of others religious views in our lives and of the people around us in our society. It shocked me to hear how lonely my friend was in our faith where he lives! I felt great sorrow when he told me this bit of news, but upon hearing that he did not lack having any friends, it brought me back to my normal composure. I told him I was happy that he still found friends even if they didn't agree on the same things concerning their faith. He respected their beliefs though he may disagree, yet he didn't show he disagreed. That is one of the hardest challenges of a follower of Christ. To be able to respect other people's beliefs, while they may not be your beliefs, and still treat that person with the love and compassion that Jesus did to those who even rejected him and cast him out, that is one of the greatest qualities to have as a Christian.
I have to give credit to my friend for this next reference as well. As I'm still lacking familiarity with lesser known stories in the Bible, I had not known about the story of Jesus and the woman at the well in Samaria. This short story starts in John 4:4 and ends in John 4:42. The story starts off as Jesus and His disciples arriving in the town and Jesus arriving at the well while this one woman, who was a Samaritan, sat at the well as well. Jesus engaged in conversation with the woman asking her for a drink of water, and the woman's mind was offset. It had been known that Jews and Samaritans were not well known for conversing, let alone dealing with one another. As the story progresses Jesus teaches the woman and tells her of her mistakes she has made and she had yet to mention anything. Amazed by this realization, she spreads the word throughout town asking if Jesus was truly the Christ, the Messiah. At first the citizens did not believe her tale, but as they soon learned wisdom and truth from Jesus, a majority of them had truly believed that Jesus was indeed the Savior of the world.
Jesus, being a Jew, talked to the Samaritan woman regardless of her past actions or the lack of affiliation between both belief systems. He respected her being and her beliefs until the point which she believed in Jesus as Savior. How I wish I could do the same! When people come up to me during school and ask why I carry my Bible around, I simply state that I enjoy reading it when I'm done with my schoolwork. Why not bring it to school? The idea had been given to me by my youth pastor, but he did not address the idea to me directly as it was toward the mass student audience. I took it to heart, and since then I've brought my Bible to school for the past five or more months, (I can't exactly remember how long ago I started).
Another thought that occurred to me was that often I find others being rejected just because they're not Christian or aren't a part of the same sect or denomination. How wrong this is, and I've been guilty of chastising others when I was younger as well! Our beliefs shouldn't matter so long as we all respect each other and we believe in our own beliefs. If you believe in my same beliefs, cool your my best friend forever....No I'm joking. We are all one through Jesus Christ and we should respect others looking beyond their race, religion, attitude, and other qualities they possess just as Jesus had done before us. Perhaps then, we'd save a ton of strife and violence that the world experiences each and every day while we sleep, eat, and enjoy our lives.
My encouragement to myself and to everyone else is that they respect everyone else's beliefs while we attempt to coexist with each other. I feel God would smile upon our love for one another and our slight inclination toward fellowship.
Thanks be to God and to my friend and his family as well!
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