No. I am not referring to the group that sang the popular song “YMCA” in the late 70’s and is still popular today at weddings and college gatherings!
I’m talking about the people we are with everyday. We have people in many different villages in our lives. We have a village of people in our workplace. We have a village of people at church. We have a village of people in our friendship circle. We have a village of people in our family. We have a village of people in the organizations to which we belong. We have a village of people in our schools, exercise groups and neighborhood.
Sometimes the people in our villages are so loving and giving and fun to be around. Then there are other people in our villages that are what I call “sand paper people”. They are people who just rub us wrong. People that get on our nerves. People that don’t think like we do or act like we think they should act.
The problem is… they are still in our village. We still have to rub shoulders with them whenever we are in that village. But Paul tells us in Romans 12:18 that if it is possible, as far as it depends on us that we are to live at peace with everyone. Yes, everyone. Not all of our village people are going to be just like us. We are all made in the image of God but we are all different. We have to try to live in peace. The verse says “as far as it depends on us”. It may not be doable but do your part.
It is important we love those people in our villages. Jesus commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:39). Jesus associated with a lot of different village people. We need to remember that we are all sinners. We need to pray for ourselves and for those in our village that we will all recognize our sin and draw close to the One who can help us love others and overcome our sins.
Today let’s challenge ourselves to love our village people with the love of Christ and to live at peace as much as we can. Then I challenge you to sing and dance with your village people – Hands up, down, left and above your head. What’s that spell? Y-M-C-A!
