Social Responsibility II - What love means ...

Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009. Some days ago I read a Christian book, where the author argued that the word responsibility would not appear in the bible. Literally, he might be wright - depending on the particular translation he used. But the idea that we are responsible towards God for our actions is very well worked out in the bible. Even every word we say will be weighted by the Lord (Matthew 12, 36). Responsibility means that we have to give account on what we do. This is reflected in the word “responsibility”. We are responsible, and God cares about us and about our neighbors!

But we can get this responsibility wrong, if we see it as a set of rules we have to obey, as a framework we have to fit in. No, no! God's idea of responsibility is different. He thinks about it as a responsibility of love, as something which is growing on the fertile ground of love. Who loves will act differently!

I am thinking about our society, about the various social problems we have on all different levels of life. There are questions of education, questions of the height of wages, questions of qualifications. Every country has slightly different problems, different difficulties with migration, other industries which flourish or suffer. Often the way our society approaches these problems seems to be driven by the wish to get rid of them. But the individual person is not in the focus of our thoughts, our arguments and our emotions. But it would be better, our social discussions would be driven by love, by passion for the other person.

We will make progress with our social questions, when two social levels come together in a balanced way:

A) we need the state and the community to organize help. It is not possible to do this alone, as an individual or as a family. In particular as a family our expenses are stretched anyway - how can we support others in a significant way if we struggle with our own monthly expenses. We might be able to invest time and effort, neighborly help, but we are not able to fund another family or to organize such funds in our neighborhood. We are not able to provide professional help for problems with alcohol or drugs, for severe mental problems etc etc. So it is crucial to have efficient local administrations in our towns and villages, who take care of such things! Christians should support the state to work and develop efficient and helpful local structures. Love means to see, where we can help as individual and where we need social structures to do the job!

B) The state alone cannot solve the social problems. Usually personal contacts can do much more than official workers, who see someone only occasionally. If a social worker comes to a family only once a month, how deep can his impact be? But if you have friends who help and who are there all the time, they can do much more. We need many links of love in the society. We need neighbors and open people who start friendships across all social borders in society. When we open our hearts, heaven will open its water gates! When you open your heart to those, who seem far away from you socially - that might be the gatekeeper around the corner or the big boss in his Mercedes, you will start to love them … The colors of your day will become more colorful. You will start to act responsibly. And the world will change. [R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]

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