Acceptance....

.....pt. 2 of Cross Cultural Servanthood, by Duane Elmer

Acceptance is the ability to communicate value, worth and esteem to another person

Romans 15:7, "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."

What does this acceptance look like??
*we are to take the initiative in showing acceptance toward others, making them feel valued and respected
*we unconditionally accept others without considering their external features, lifestyle, decisions, and so forth. (Note:acceptance does not mean approval.)
*we do not have the option of rejecting any person, though we may, in a culturally appropriate way, address behaviors that the Bible clearly addresses as sinful
*we are to eliminate our dehumanizing behaviors such as threats, intimidations, power-plays and other ungodly forms of manipulation
*we accept people-period; like Jesus, we must reject labels such as race, generation and gender as defective guides for how to treat another human being
*we expect that accepting others in these ways may cost us dearly

"Accepting one another may be one of the most powerful acts of love we can offer to each other because it promotes oneness.Oneness in Christ is so wonderful that the natural expression is to sing the praises of God. The world notices the healing love and wholeness of the body and sees a great and mighty God. They see His glory."

This new awareness of my lack of acceptance is rough, let me tell you. It's kind of mind numbing to think of walking around constantly judging people. It's even worse to know that we all do it, even when we're supposed to be serving those that we're judging! The part that really got me was how much missionaries judge the people, culture, and customs in which they find themselves. That part was like a big slap in the face, because I know it's so, so true. We go into other cultures, taking our preconceived western ideas of how things should be and how people should think and act, and rarely do we invest deep enough in the culture to truly understand why thing are the way they are. I've heard so many comments, but I'm only going to comment on my own superiority complex. For example, "Why is it so dirty, stinky, nasty, unhygienic, etc? Don't they care about(fill in the blank)? I can't believe that they still believe all of those old superstitions!" Ugh, I think of the many times that I laughed at people's fears of a breeze, an open window, a cold drink, or ice cream making them sick- even if it was only laughing inside of myself.  Or much worse, tried to prove to them scientifically that they were wrong. What arrogance, and what lack of ability to assimilate into my adopted culture. 

There's a thing in counseling called FIT, and it means that the counselor is identifying with the counselee. And I think that's the issue here; we, as people made in the image of God and created to love, are not practicing FIT. We're not identifying with the other person/people. No matter where we are, whether it be overseas, or sitting at a coffee shop, or walking down the street, we are called to love those with whom we're coming in contact. Why? 

Well, for these two simple reasons:
1)They're also made in the image of God
2)To point them to the One in whose image they're made