Disclaimer: most of my blogs are fun, silly, light, encouraging or educational. I don’t think I have written a blog post like this but it has been eating away at me to put in writing. Don’t think I have never made these mistakes – – I have. But together, we really need to stop. We really need to start acting like Christians. How are they going to know us by our love if we don’t have any?! So here goes my soap box.
I am going to be completely honest here. Sometimes, the worst witness of Christianity – – is other Christians. For serving a God of LOVE, we stink at loving. For serving a God of FORGIVENESS, we stink at forgiving. For serving a God of GRACE and MERCY, we stink at showing others grace and mercy. And what’s worse? We treat our brothers and sisters in the Lord horrible. It is simply embarrassing.
Facebook is what made me realize just how bad it has gotten. I can’t take it anymore – – the judging, the gossiping, the tearing down – – all publicly and without a thought or a care. When I started paying attention, I couldn’t believe how many people on Facebook feel the need to “deal” with other believers publicly and un-Biblically. Why?
God loved before He judged.
He created Man and Woman in His image with every tender care and loving thought. He gently breathed into us, chose our eye color and our hair type. He picked out freckles and crooked teeth and different feet. He loved us as He made us. He loves us. He will always love us.
We pulled away. We chose to sin. Hence, we are all sinners. Done. You, me, your friends that you are ticked off at right now, and most definitely my two year old and my four year old. Sinners.
But He loves us.
He watched us struggle. He watched us fight. He gave us laws, simply to show us that it was impossible to fix ourselves, alone, with laws. We failed miserably and things just got worse.
But He loves us.
He sent himself, in His Son. A baby born to an unmarried woman. Awkward. Do you think Jesus lived a peaceful childhood? How would you like to be the obviously illegitimate child between a young woman and a carpenter in the days of the Bible?
But He loves us.
He spent His time here on earth proclaiming a new way, a way out of the confusion and exhaustion of empty laws and blind rituals. He pointed to Heaven, to God through Himself.
Because He loves us.
And He misses us.
He allowed men to nail His body to a cross. Stick a needle in your finger, it hurts. He died even though He didn’t have to. He was showing us something.
Love. And forgiveness. He was showing us grace and mercy. Love.
And many, many of us have accepted that free gift of salvation, choosing to follow after Him, walking towards eternal life in Heaven with Him.
But we don’t love. Yet He loves us. We need to stop.
If you profess to be a Christian, you have to stop judging. You have to stop assuming. You have to stop pretending to be God. And please, for pity’s sake, stop airing out your dirty laundry on Facebook. Stop gossiping on Facebook. Stop openly judging or critiquing your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Start loving.
Matthew 18:15
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
Matthew 7:3-5
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Matthew 18:21-22
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
1 John 4:7-21
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
It isn’t that hard. Do you see those key words in Matthew 18:15? If he sins 1, against you then 2, go and tell him between you and him alone. But before you do that, make sure you read Matthew 7:3-5, Matthew 18:21-22 and 1 John 4:7-21 and see if the Lord doesn’t change your heart.
Maybe, just maybe if we give love, forgiveness, grace and mercy a try (instead of judgment, criticism, assumption and gossip) maybe then Christians will start making a difference in this world instead of doing our Savior a disservice.
Nice job, sis. 🙂