11/20/25 ATTITUDE TOWARDS PEOPLE MATTERS

11/20/25 ATTITUDE TOWARDS PEOPLE MATTERS

PEOPLE MATTER
Don't allow Satan to make you a, people hater or a race hater or a foreigner hater. Don't attack people because of their culture or their politics or their religion. Keep in mind that people should not be the focus of our disturbance or upheaval. If a religious system or political system or a culture is corrupt and destructive, that is a worthy target of criticism and measured resistance, but people, races, nationalities and even the proponents of evil religions are the people for whom Jesus died and they are the people we are expected to love. This does not mean we should be gullibly tolerant of evil systems, or blind to the dangers of evil people, but it does mean that we will love even our enemies and we should not give the appearance of arrogance, snobbery, disdain for the people who are being held by the chains of darkness.

Don't mock them, demean them, insult them. Don't camouflage your carnal prejudice and bigotry under a cloak of "patriotism," cultural excellence, religious superiority (including Christianity). We (as Christians) wrestle not against flesh and blood (people) but against principalities... (spiritual entities). Scripture tells us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Pride is the killer. We should not have pride of face, lace, place, race or grace. We are to think more highly of other's than we think of ourselves. Our disdain should not be for them but for the deception and chains that hold them captive. Don't say things that put barriers between you and other people. If we love them, maybe we will gain their respect, and they will listen to what we say about God's ability to save them from their oppressive and destructive alliances. If we are people of grace, we will manifest grace and graciousness. WWJD is not a bad question to ask ourselves in those situations.

It is not difficult to come across as judgmental or narcissistic. It takes humility, grace, kindness, love to present the compassion and likeness of Jesus to people. We can be strong without being brutish or callous or self-aggrandizing. I like the phrase, "Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me." But it should be much more than a catchy phrase. It should be a watchword, a battle-cry, a brand by which people identify us and our message.

We are not here to magnify a political party, a form of government, a nation, an economic system. Yes, there are good forms and evil forms in each of these systems, and we want everyone to share in the better forms, but that is separate from having or displaying an attitude of superiority. Salvation, Christianity is a reality that exists in the most welcoming and the most forbidding of social, political environments. We should live with the same spiritual and community standards, regardless of where we live. We are here to magnify God and to show other people what it is like to be part of the kingdom of God. We are here to reconcile the lost to Jesus, and we can't do that if we are going to exalt ourselves above them.

ATTITUDE MATTERS
Make certain you have a Christlike worldview and relationship with all men.