Common Threads*
February 28
Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.
Proverbs 22:2
What a strange weekend. Everywhere Trevor looked he saw a familiar face.
What made it strange was that Trevor and his wife, Erin, Erin’s sister, Carolyn, and her husband, Dick, were on vacation two hundred miles from home. And yet, person after person looked familiar. If he’d seen one look-alike he’d seen fifty!
He’d noticed the curious phenomenon yesterday, while they were shopping. Several times he’d seen a friendly face only to remember where he was and that the odds were it wasn’t actually them.
The next day in church Trevor looked around the sanctuary noticing men, women, and children who bore strong resemblance to friends back home. Knowing this wasn’t a coincidence, he silently asked, Okay, Lord, what are you trying to tell me?! But God remained silent.
With vacation over, they headed home. Stopping along the way to grab some dinner, Trevor decided to share his experience with everyone. As he began to share Dick’s eyes lit up. “Me too!” he said surprisingly. “I thought I saw your brother, Tim, yesterday! How weird is that?!” Erin and Carol had also had the same experience! This was more than strange!
In that moment God spoke to Trevor, “There is a common thread running through humanity. None are strangers to Me. Rich and poor, saved and unsaved…I made them all. These are your brothers and sisters.”
†
It has become human nature to insulate ourselves from the seedy or questionable characters of life, looking on them as unsavory; those people with whom we’d rather not interact. And while I am not advocating that recovering alcoholics and addicts cavort with drunks and junkies, or that we must all minister in the crack houses of our neighborhood, I am suggesting that if God brings someone questionable across our path we not dismiss them as an inconvenience.
There is no more than a 0.2 percent difference in the DNA of every race on the planet, though skin color and distinguishing features may suggest otherwise, God says we are family. How would you treat your sister if she were in need?
Prayer
“Teach me to treat everyone with the respect and dignity with which I want to be treated, Lord. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
*DNA percentage obtained from: www.ChristianAnswers.Net on 08/27/2009 by Author
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