I know Ive talked about this before. Probably lots of times. I guess thats because its so passionately dear to my heart! I read a quote today by A.W. Tozer that said something like I have no right to preach to people that I havent prayed for. That just set my mind off and I was on a real tangent. I have come to the sad, sad conclusion that Christians are probably the worst for when it comes to judging people and I have to say, Im getting very discouraged. Its no wonder that some of the most vile, bloody, violent wars that were ever fought in our history were over religion! Christians can be MEAN! Two things happened recently to remind me of this fact. First of all, a couple of months ago I found out that someone de-friended (?) me on facebook. Thats o.k., I dont mind. I didnt even KNOW it until they wanted to friend me again. I thought I was ALREADY their friend so I asked them about it (via messaging). They said that my theology was too different than theirs and, as a good Christian, I knew I needed to step away from it, but, hey! Its all good now! I forget why you last offended me! Guess what? Were still not facebook friends. Heres the deal: Im NOT a theologian. Im NOT a person who writes about doctrine. MY only doctrine is love. I write about how important it is that we love one another and show that love and live that love and practice that love. HIS theology is Tell them their gonna go to HELL if they dont get saved!! Same goal, different direction. Then theres a lady who writes a column for our local newspaper. To be honest, shes not my favorite and I never read her any more. She writes about every day life and her husband and kids are often who she writes about. Thats fine - so do I! :) But she ALSO writes that she has a temper and that she occasionally throws things and that she is a self-professed potty mouth. So last week Andrew tossed the paper at me and told me to read her column. Sad. Her whole column was a rant on the bad feedback she gets from Christian people. How righteous and holy and judgmental they are. And how THEY do parenting right and SHE needs to take a hard look at the rotten job SHE is doing. Talk about my blood boiling!!!! HOW DO CHRISTIANS expect the world to see Christ when all they see is the church lady frowning at them telling them all the wrong theyre doing? I just dont get it. So I did something Ive never done before: I wrote to her. In a nutshell I apologized. For all those Christians out there who reamed her out. I told her that if she WASNT a Christian (I dont know if she is or isnt) that I hope she doesnt judge God by what Christianity LOOKS like because thats not really what it IS. And that if she WAS a Christian I apologized that her brothers and sister in Christ treated her so shabbily. She wrote back immediately - almost as fast as I pressed the send button - and she said THANK you!!!! Sigh. Mother Teresa said it so eloquently - If you judge people you have no time to love them. Mark Twain said Kindness is a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see., and lastly, I Peter 4:8 - Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 393 scriptures mention, or contain, the word love. Why so many if it wasnt important? We need to STOP JUDGING, START LOVING and, sometimes, keep our mouths shut and our hearts wide open. I am a firm believer that if you want to introduce people to Jesus, you need to BE Jesus first. YES, he condemned, but he never brought people to a saving knowledge of God by bullying them and being so self righteous. And HE, out of ANYONE, had the right to be righteous! But he chose to love and sacrifice and pray and DO for people. THATS what made them fall in love with God!! So I encourage you to be Jesus today. Love, encourage and really listen to people. Find out what their needs are (spiritual as well as physical) and try to meet them. Its when we are actively loving that we do the work of our Father. Be blessed today!!!!!!! Theres so much to be grateful for!!!!
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 10:49:03 +0000
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