What we wear makes a difference in how we live.
Try North Dakota in the middle of February. You need a few layers, maybe some down, and warm gloves are a must. If you bundle up properly, you’ll stay toasty warm in the coldest weather.
Put on those same clothes in Miami, and you’re pushing the limits of human tolerance. Your body will overheat, and you’ll become ill within the hour.
On the coast, wear a windbreaker.
The tropics demand a raincoat.
A wetsuit is perfect for surfing off the California coast.
So, then, what clothes are perfect for wearing among people who aren’t exactly like us? You know, the ones with slightly different values, hair color, and ways of speaking?
If they maintain an alternative lifestyle, how can we be expected to get along with them?
The Bible says we need to put on our love coat. It will change the way we see them, and it will change us, also.
John 8:7 gives us the words of Jesus:
“And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’ ”
Our love coat reminds us that we aren’t perfect, either. Perhaps how we live, think, and respond to others sometimes falls shy of the perfect will of God.
Perhaps, just perhaps, the people we’re around are wearing their love coats just to be able to put up with us.
Life is a shared experience. Everyone lives it differently. If we can come together in practicing the love that Jesus revealed in his time on the earth, we will find tolerance in our hearts and peace in our time.
Walking hand-in-hand with Jesus is best done hand-in-hand with our fellow man.
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