The Shunning Written by Sharon L. White This article is taken from the March 2000 issue of Stepping out of the Darkness. ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `      The darkness of the night became suffocating. A young man in his 20's went home alone to his apartment. He was lonely and depressed. Drugs numbed his pain. The emptiness he felt was the missing Saviour, which we all need. Who came to minister unto him? Was he dirty, evil, wicked, or not good enough for us?       His girlfriend came by and saw what he was doing. Instead of comforting his pain, she left in disgust. Who would reach out to this young man? He was not a bad person. In fact, he was very handsome, well dressed and had a very good job. He had a lot going for him. All he was missing was the love, compassion and understanding from his fellow man. What he needed most of all, never came.       That very night, in a sense of hopeless despair, he committed suicide. He was my husband's cousin. A very dear and sweet person, much loved by many. The funeral home had people waiting in line all the way back to the street to say their last farewell. Did this have to happen? My dear ones, it happens every single day. And I believe it is because we all "shun" the lost in some sense. Instead of going back to where we came from, we move on, move above those who are lost in sin. Or worse, if we have always been strict Christians, we never even reach out at all because we consider them to be unclean and are taught to partake of the "shunning."       Did Jesus come to minister unto the saved? Did he refuse to talk with, teach, love and care for the sinners? He is the great Physician and healed the lost. Not only from physical suffering, but also from spiritual suffering. Mark 2:16 - 17 "And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with the publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."       They reach out to us every day . . . The lost. They smile, they talk. And we politely move on. They ask questions. And we simply give them our point of view before casting them away. We are no better than them. I say this all with a sense of urgency. There is a lost and dying world out there. Right in front of our faces. In our own neighborhood. We must open our eyes and do the work we were put here for.      I think what bothers me most is when Christians "shun" each other over small matters. This is such a waste of time. We are to all work together for good. As brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, we must reach out to every person God puts in front of us.      The true "shunning" explained in the Bible is for those who refuse God. Those who turn away from God and are not open to him at all. This could be those involved with witchcraft, stealing, etc. and absolutely will not respond to anyone. It was never meant for us to shut them out completely, but simply to keep a distance. They still desperately need compassion, love and understanding. Not judgment. We are not the judge. God is the only Judge. We are simply the workers in the field of the harvest.     Can we rise above our own misconceptions, giving up our lives entirely to face the despair of the lost world. Are we willing to walk among the lonely, to reach out to them with the love of God? Will it take a suicide in our own families before we will wake up?      What makes them sin? What makes them refuse God? They just do not understand or know the love of God. And how, dear ones, can we, in a literal sense, minister to them?       Help in any situation. Be willing to give all you have; your time, your strength, your money. Be willing to give it all. And if you can only save one from destruction, if it is just one life that never pulls the trigger, or that one who, in a moment of utter despair, did not jump off the bridge, my readers, if that is what you can do, great will your reward be in heaven.      Will you be the check point? The safe haven in a terrifying world. Can the lost come to you when things get too bad? Will you leave the porch light on for them, so they will have one safe place to go?       Life is a battlefield. The saved are the light. The lost are the wounded soldiers from the other side. Have compassion, dear ones, in a very real sense. Don't shut them out.~ Site Index