Have a Broad Circle of Inclusion

“The only gift is a portion of thyself.”

—RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].

—1 Peter 4:8

God has called us to love everyone just as He loves us. God doesn’t reject anyone, and we shouldn’t either. The world is filled with lonely people who are perhaps a bit different or not easy to understand. Instead of avoiding those people, we should make every effort to reach out to them. There’s a reason why each of us are the way we are; we need to remember that except for the grace of God in our lives, the people we reject could very well be ourselves. We need to keep our circles of friends broad and inclusive; at the minimum, we should avoid being exclusive to only those we feel are most like us.

I recall feeling very rejected much of my life. I could sense people did not like me and I really did not understand why. People would say to me, “Why do you act the way you do?” I could not give an answer because I didn’t understand what it was about me that bothered them. I was just being the only me I knew how to be. I was sexually abused by my father and my personality became harsh and hard. I presented myself in a way that made people not like me and I acted like I didn’t care. But the truth was, deep inside, I was desperate for love and acceptance.

It was only when Jesus accepted me unconditionally that I began to heal. Perhaps along with going to church, we should make an effort to be the church and actually do the work Jesus did. He had a broad circle of inclusion, and I find that to be much simpler than trying to decide if a person fits all the qualifications to be “in” my group. Perhaps if we stopped examining one another for flaws and just walked in love, we could all enjoy life much more.