You're not the one...

You're not the one in charge of keeping people safe and alive. You're not the one thinking of others before yourself. You're not the one loving your neighbor as yourself; you love yourself more than your neighbor. You're not the one committed to sacrifice and service at any cost. You're the one screaming about your "god-given rights" as an American thinking that God is somehow given you status over others, and cares more about the United States than any other country in the world.

You've just forgotten that on the day you gave your heart to Jesus and made Him Lord of your life, you put aside your rights as an American and you decided to lay down your life at the foot of the cross to serve in a different kingdom for an eternal King! You decided to suffer and sacrifice so that the name of Jesus would be honored and glorified!

You're not the "religious insider" or the Sunday morning church goer who passes by on the other side of the road while the sick and dying need your help. No, as a follower of Jesus, you're the one that chooses to defy all expectations and help the one in need. You're the one who takes care with generosity and grace!

You're the one who wears a mask because your neighbor needs you too, and that is all the reason you need! It's time to wear your mask!

Need proof? Here's how Jesus told it... from Luke 10:25-37 from the Message by Eugene H. Peterson

"Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?” He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?” He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.” “Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.” Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?” Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man. “A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’ “What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?” “The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded. Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

Here's another way to think about it...

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly…” Teddy Roosevelt

ENOUGH SAID!