I spend a lot of time talking to people who haven't given their lives to Christ or people who have walked away from the church. In most of those cases, those people have rejected Christ not because they have an issue with Christ himself, but because they have an issue with those represent him. Do you know why that is? Cause church folks can be so mean!
For example if someone "from the world" comes to church why would we talk about what they wear? Of course they wear party clothes that's the life they live! If you care, then buy them something else. Otherwise, be quiet and let the Holy Spirit do His job which is change people from inside out.
God is love. He loves people even before they accept Him...that's why He sent Jesus. He knows that we aren't perfect, nor does He expect perfection from us. At least not perfection in the sense that we never make a mistake or sin. IF it was that easy, there would not have been a need for Jesus to die on the Cross...we could have just choosen perfection. Now that's not a license to do whatever I like b/c like the Apostel Paul said we should be "constrained by the love of God."
For the record...love doesn't go around pointing out people's faults...looking for every opportunity to tell them how much they've sinned. Love doesn't keep record of wrongs. Love believes the best about people. Love isn't always talking about hell. Speaking of which...I believe there is a heaven and a hell, but when I read about how Jesus and the disciples lead people into the kingdom, they never mentioned hell. So it's interesting to me that most calls to salvation inside and outside the church talk about hell.
When Jesus met the woman at the well, he didn't say, "Look you're a whore and if you don't change you're going to hell." Why not? He knew that if He could show her the love of God, she would come to him and HE could deliver her from the bondage of whoredom." Same for calling in the disciples...he doesn't tell them about hell if they don't follow him...so why in the world do Christians keep trying to scare people out of hell into the kingdom?
Am I the only one who has the experience of coming to Jesus because I'm scared to death of going to hell? Over time the fear leaves and the feelings that I was never going to be able to stop sinning so I was going to hell anyway caused me to just walk away from church. It wasn't until I learned the love of God and that he wasn't sitting in the sky with a big button waiting to sin me to hell that I was able to continue walking with him.
Between church people talking about hell and being mean as, well you know what fits there, why would anyone want to be a Christian? Even as a pastor, I can honestly tell you that most of the stuff I hear people say about the kingdom doesn't make me want to join. And then when you combine that with a group of people who say they know Jesus, but spend all their time pointing out your faults....is it any wonder people are rejecting Christ?
So what can we do? We can remember that people who are sinners SIN and even people who love God still sin until they are renewed in their minds so we ask God to show us people as HE SEES THEM not as they are. We can remember that no one is perfect and we all have shortcomings and we can treat people the way we want to be treated when and if we blow it. We can stop gossiping about the mistakes people make while pretending we are just telling to pray about it. We can take a new believer or a struggling believer under our wing and spend time "modeling" what love, holiness and integrity look like. We can be compassionate and empathetic remembering that whatever we've been delivered from...is because of grace...because of love.
My challenge to every believer is that we put judgment down and pick up love and grace. When we have to point out someone's sin, we do it from a place of true love and concern and a desire to see them be free...not a reminder that hell waits on the edges if they don't change. That we remember that NO ONE is perfect and that we all have things we are working on, but it doesn't mean we don't love God...we're just growing up in Christ. When we have an opportunity to lead people to Christ, we model Jesus lead them into a kingdom of love....
