It’s a good thing to unclutter, but never throw away something or someone that God has pronounced beneficial.

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?”

Romans 8:35 NLT

I pray for many people every day, and feel honored to do so.

It’s hard to keep my list up to date, because… well, things change. Sometimes sadly it’s a spouse. As has been my custom I have kept the name of the ‘ex’ and put their name behind their former spouse and enclosed it in a parenthesis. I feel a slight discomfort when I come across it.

Why do I keep them on my prayer list, since originally I had prayed for them as couples? I haven’t been able to eliminate any of them and there’s a pretty good reason for that. Taking them to God daily reminds me powerfully that God never throws anyone away.

As a culture (even Christian culture) have gotten very good at throwing things away. We carelessly discard what should have been beneficial and comforting memories of friends from years ago. Whether they have passed away or we’ve just lost touch with them, if we’re no careful we allow their memory to fade and lose the impact of their life and lessons they may have taught us.

We sometimes throw away wonderful habits which we worked hard developing. They served us well. But not anymore. We’ve gotten sloppy and eliminated some which still should bless us.

We had sympathy for the homeless. Many had stories that were both true and tragic. It was not uncommon for us to feel a sense of responsibility and give to them. But with our cities awash in the homeless, we’ve thrown the lot of them away without giving it much thought.

And then there are the babies… the ones who mean too little to the two who physically created them and to the mother who doesn’t want them. They’ve been called ‘unplanned,’ ‘unnecessary,’ ‘unexpected disruptions’. And so, they’re thrown away. So many who call themselves followers of Christ haven’t spoken up on behalf of these tiny ones who as yet have no voice. There are more than 6 million ‘throw-aways. ’ That should break our hearts.

As God moves into our nation and our planet with a Holy Spirit-directed agenda, we’ll meet people who have thrown many valuable things away in their lives and are living in regret. We’ll meet some who sorely miss old friendships and desperately need the friendship with the Friend who sticks closer than a brother. Everybody needs love and everybody deserves love.

Let’s not unwittingly be part of the carnage. God never throws anyone away!