How do I learn to accept those who are different from me? - Acceptance - TouchPoints

Deuteronomy 10:18-19“So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.”

Matthew 25:35“For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.”

Hebrews 13:2Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!

Almost everyone has had a time where they felt like an outsider and were uncertain about how to find a path to belonging. Almost everyone has had a time where they needed help but were too embarrassed to ask. When we seek to truly see and understand the people we meet, treating them with kindness and dignity, we also are showing love and respect to the One who made them.

Matthew 8:2-3Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

Matthew 9:10-12Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?” When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.”

Luke 19:2, 5-10There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. . . . When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.” Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

In Jesus’ day, prostitutes, tax collectors, and lepers were some of the least acceptable people around. Prostitutes made money off sexual sin. Tax collectors like Zacchaeus not only worked for the Roman conquerors, but they also cheated people and collected extra money for themselves. Lepers were disgusting—their disease caused their bodies to slowly rot away; and the disease was contagious, so they had to live on the outskirts of society. Yet Jesus knew these people who evoked such disgust were some of the people who most understood their need for his message. In fact, one of those people—a tax collector named Matthew—deserves our thanks for writing much of what we know about Jesus. We may not like where people come from, what they have done, or how they act, but like Jesus, we can recognize the glorious potential in each and every person.

Acts 10:34Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism.”

Romans 15:7Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.

Galatians 3:28There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Revelation 7:9-10After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”

God calls all kinds of people to become part of the Body of Christ. The unity of that body is crucial to its witness to the world. Though our differences are real, and sometimes deserve discussion, those differences should never overshadow the central unity of our identity in Christ.