What the world needs now.
I've been thinking a lot about Christians lately. It's no secret that I've struggled with them, and in the past few weeks, as I've been praying about it, God's really been showing me in His Word that He has commanded me to love them... that there is to be no division in the church (and by that, I mean the whole body of believers, not whichever church I choose to worship in on Sundays).
While reading Don Miller's Searching for God Knows What (which, by the way, is going to play a prominent role in the next few posts), I jotted down this thought: "Maybe the world hates Christians because we act more like the Pharisees than we act like Christ."
The Pharisees were religious leaders during the time Christ was alive, and they really struggled (to put it mildly) with the idea that Christ might be the Messiah. They challenged Him on pretty much everything He did, quoting Scripture. He, of course, had a response for them each time.
It makes sense that they'd challenge Him, though, because they had a comfortable position of authority in the culture of the time. Jesus threatened that authority - a tough thing to swallow. They just couldn't face someone who was holier than they were (see Matthew 12:14).
The major problem with the Pharisees, though, is that they got completely tangled in the religion of the time. Their religion was based on rule-following, and they really didn't like it when Jesus told them the greatest two commandments were the ones based on love - love your God above all else, and love your neighbor like yourself. The Pharisees were like the annoying know-it-all tattletale you probably remember from elementary school.
What's sad is that they missed the point, really. What are you trying to prove when standing before the Lord of Creation in human form?
I think we, too, need to realize that Christianity is not an us-versus-them mentality. If you are truly a Christian - a believer in Christ - then you are called to be an advocate for the lost. They are *not* the enemy you are battling against. I am not saying that we condone their behavior but recognize that we are as immoral as they are. Our awareness that we need salvation and that it has been offered to us does not make us better, less immoral people.
Last year, when taking a special ed class, I learned about something called "person-first" language. In other words, you wouldn't say "the deaf woman," noting her disability before acknowledging her as a person. You'd say, "the woman with the hearing impairment." I think that we can carry this into the way we relate to nonbelievers. Instead of saying "that lost person," maybe we should just see them as a person, as needful of Christ's love as anyone else. It really doesn't matter whether they are Christian or not - we should be demonstrating Christ's love to all people in all circumstances.
I've always hated the expression "love the sinner, hate the sin." I don't know that we get very far by pointing out people's sins - I think we need to just stop at "love the sinner." Telling a person that they are wrong gets us nowhere because he'll just get defensive. But loving them with and through Christ's love - that can bring a sinner to grace.
Think about the testimonies you've heard about how people became Christians. Have you ever heard one where someone claimed that another person convicted them about how wrong they were? No - in testimonies, people always say how broken they were and how God's love rescued them.
There's no question about the lack of morality in our society. Christians and non-Christians alike have seen this. Enron has had a deep, lasting impact on us. My education professors lately have been discussing the push for Ethics classes in public schools - which always raises the impossible question - which ethics do you teach? Regardless, nothing about this immorality will change until people receive the unconditional and unchanging love of God.
We as Christians need to pray to be set apart from the world. Usually when we talk about praying this, we mean to be set apart from sin - protected from stumbling. I mean it differently. We need to be set apart by our clear and evident love for all others, and for me, that means to love Christians as much as I love non-Christians. But deep and abiding love has the power to completely change lives.
"Good behavior" will only cause others to resent us - but who will run away from unconditional love?
While reading Don Miller's Searching for God Knows What (which, by the way, is going to play a prominent role in the next few posts), I jotted down this thought: "Maybe the world hates Christians because we act more like the Pharisees than we act like Christ."
The Pharisees were religious leaders during the time Christ was alive, and they really struggled (to put it mildly) with the idea that Christ might be the Messiah. They challenged Him on pretty much everything He did, quoting Scripture. He, of course, had a response for them each time.
It makes sense that they'd challenge Him, though, because they had a comfortable position of authority in the culture of the time. Jesus threatened that authority - a tough thing to swallow. They just couldn't face someone who was holier than they were (see Matthew 12:14).
The major problem with the Pharisees, though, is that they got completely tangled in the religion of the time. Their religion was based on rule-following, and they really didn't like it when Jesus told them the greatest two commandments were the ones based on love - love your God above all else, and love your neighbor like yourself. The Pharisees were like the annoying know-it-all tattletale you probably remember from elementary school.
What's sad is that they missed the point, really. What are you trying to prove when standing before the Lord of Creation in human form?
I think we, too, need to realize that Christianity is not an us-versus-them mentality. If you are truly a Christian - a believer in Christ - then you are called to be an advocate for the lost. They are *not* the enemy you are battling against. I am not saying that we condone their behavior but recognize that we are as immoral as they are. Our awareness that we need salvation and that it has been offered to us does not make us better, less immoral people.
Last year, when taking a special ed class, I learned about something called "person-first" language. In other words, you wouldn't say "the deaf woman," noting her disability before acknowledging her as a person. You'd say, "the woman with the hearing impairment." I think that we can carry this into the way we relate to nonbelievers. Instead of saying "that lost person," maybe we should just see them as a person, as needful of Christ's love as anyone else. It really doesn't matter whether they are Christian or not - we should be demonstrating Christ's love to all people in all circumstances.
I've always hated the expression "love the sinner, hate the sin." I don't know that we get very far by pointing out people's sins - I think we need to just stop at "love the sinner." Telling a person that they are wrong gets us nowhere because he'll just get defensive. But loving them with and through Christ's love - that can bring a sinner to grace.
Think about the testimonies you've heard about how people became Christians. Have you ever heard one where someone claimed that another person convicted them about how wrong they were? No - in testimonies, people always say how broken they were and how God's love rescued them.
There's no question about the lack of morality in our society. Christians and non-Christians alike have seen this. Enron has had a deep, lasting impact on us. My education professors lately have been discussing the push for Ethics classes in public schools - which always raises the impossible question - which ethics do you teach? Regardless, nothing about this immorality will change until people receive the unconditional and unchanging love of God.
We as Christians need to pray to be set apart from the world. Usually when we talk about praying this, we mean to be set apart from sin - protected from stumbling. I mean it differently. We need to be set apart by our clear and evident love for all others, and for me, that means to love Christians as much as I love non-Christians. But deep and abiding love has the power to completely change lives.
"Good behavior" will only cause others to resent us - but who will run away from unconditional love?
posted by Heather at 9:55 AM
1 Comments:
I am just wondering, as a Christian do you believe that your religion is the one and only way? The right way?
If someone is following a path other than your own but the are an all-round good person, does that make them wrong?
I am just curious about this as I am not a Christian?
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