What would you do if you found out you had a prostitute living next door? What would your first reaction be? Call the police? Confront her?

Well, believe it or not, I have recently been faced with this dilemma. Now I don’t have concrete proof, just suspicious behaviour and a hunch.

At first, as you can imagine, I was outraged. I wanted justice. I called the police and demanded they do something about it immediately. I just wanted her to move and be gone out of my neighborhood, out of my life. But then as I began to calm down, I thought to myself, “If she moves away, she’ll be out of my life but she won’t stop what she’s doing. She’ll just be doing it somewhere else.” And then I began to think of what must have happened to her in her life for her to live this way. What kind of abuse must she have gone through to turn to this lifestyle?

And then I began to think of what Jesus would do if He lived next door to her. The Bible says that Jesus often went to dinner with prostitutes, cheaters and corrupt politicians.

I can definitely tell you that I wasn’t anywhere near ready to have dinner with my neighbour, but I did start to think of ways I could engage with her and perhaps somehow reach out to her.

Here’s some things I realized:

  1. If I didn’t try to help her, who would? As Christians, I think we often want justice first and foremost because after all, she is sinning and going against God’s way. But what if the whole point of me living next door to her was to show her the love of Christ that far exceeds any sin, wrongdoing or illegal behaviour she was engaging in? What if God loved her so much that He couldn’t bear to see her ravage her soul any longer, that He orchestrated her moving in next door to me in the hopes that I would follow His prompting and somehow be the hands and feet of Jesus to her?
  2. I need to look past the outward behaviour that angers me and see the person God intended her to be when He created her. Now this is a tough one! But I have to remind myself that she is not what she does. Deep down under all the sordid behaviour, is a precious girl who once had hopes and dreams. I am sure she never thought, “I want to be a prostitute when I grow up!” I am still working this out, but I am praying that God will give me the grace and compassion I need to reach out to her in some small, but hopefully significant way. Above all that though, I know I can pray. Pray that she finds the love of Jesus; pray that she is set free from this lifestyle; pray that she be healed of all her brokenness.

Pointing the finger and demanding justice is easy. Loving the unlovable, the sinful, even the evil? Now that is difficult. But I am convinced now, more than ever, that this is what God is calling us to do.

If you need to know God for yourself, or you have areas in your life that need to be healed, God’s love is more than enough. Click on the pop up or the link below to find out more about the love God has for you!