Friend or Foe? How do we look at others?

Photo by Zach Savinar on Unsplash

Our survival instinct runs strong. Thank God that he has given us the ability to make instant decisions involving threat assessment. It is what enables us to react differently to cute puppies than to coiled rattlesnakes. But sociologically we make threat assessments about people that often diverge from how Jesus sees the person in question.  

I recently wrote a blog addressed to pastors and ministry leaders about the danger of developing a hyper-vigilant attitude towards those outside their circle of influence. However, this issue reaches beyond the clergy to a wider group. As shepherds, parents, and neighbors, how do we look at people we meet as we go through our day, that we don't know or with whom we have not yet developed a mutual trust? 

In this article, I used the metaphor of the controversial police tactic of  "stop and frisk" to bring light to our defensiveness. While people may be untrustworthy if our trust is in Christ, we can still engage them in the spirit of Christ's love!

Here is the link to the post, Arresting Ministerial "Stop & Frisk"

Photo: Creative Commons

Another older post on this blog defied conventional wisdom by encouraging followers of Jesus Christ to actually talk To Strangers.