Show interest for the parcours of people

"He got up, and left. Now an Ethiopian eunuch, a high official of Candace, the Queen of Ethiopia, and administrator of all his treasures, had come to Jerusalem to worship" (Acts 8:27).

This man had come to Jerusalem to worship. This detail is important because it tells us about the eunuch's faith. This man had some faith and knowledge of God. Philippe did not begin to denigrate the man's way of believing. He was not brittle. Imagine for a moment that Philippe said : "But my good sir, you have not understood anything, Jesus is risen, it is not like that now...". On the contrary, he remained very respectful. He sought first to establish a relationship of trust with him.

The different ways of believing those around us do not allow us to be scornful. People have their life, their story, their journey. Let's show understanding, compassion and listening, of course, without ever compromising. We must never give the impression to our interlocutor that we endorse his sin or practices contrary to the Word.

The Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul exhort us, respectively, to watch over our conduct : "Indeed, it is the will of God that by practicing good you reduce to silence the ignorance of men without good sense. Behave as free men, without making freedom a veil that covers wickedness but acting instead as servants of God. Respect everyone, love brothers and sisters, fear God, honor the King" (1 Peter 2:15-17). "May your sweetness be known to all men. The Lord is near" (Philippians 4:5).

It does not matter if a person has a different skin color than you, that he has political convictions different from yours, whether he is a member of a cult or even a follower of the occult sciences... Anyone has a right to respect, she is a creature made in the image of God. He is a person whom God loves and for whom Jesus died.

Jeremy Sourdril