The love and compassion of God drove Paul to engage others “where they were.” Does God’s love and compassion drive you to engage others where they are? Not where we think they should be, but where they are. Do we only engage others when they see things our way or behave more like us? Do we engage others only when they speak English fluently? God forbid that we even learn some rudimentary Spanish!
Being flexible on account of the Gospel does mean that there will be times you leave your comfort zone, meet new people, and offer the prospect of friendship. Yes, there are people better and more comfortable at this, but we can all learn from Paul about being flexible when it comes to enacting and proclaiming the love and compassion of God with people “where and as they are.”
