Have you ever been called a hypocrite, liar, fool, blind, etc by someone that is not "a person of faith"? I have. To begin with, I deserved it. I was a hypocrite and just a bad example for the world to go on as what a follower of Christ should behave like. THere came a point in time where it slowly dawned on me. Yes, these people may be doing wrong by acting the way that they do. However, it is not my job, or your's to make the judgement of whether or not they're going to hell. That job is Christ's and His alone. Our job is to give them an example of living blamelessly. I know that you're gonna mess up from time to time, but at least give it an effort so that the non believers can see that it is possible and not as boring and pious as they may think.
What all this really boils down to is loving them. Mark 12:30-3130 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
That is the Great Commandment. First of all, God comes before EVERYTHING ELSE! Your spouse, kids, job, hobbies, habits, EVERYTHING! Secondly, imagine what would happen if we had an outbreak of people loving each other. I'm not talking about hippie stoner love either. I'm talking about love that you'd give your life for someone. Lets say that you have a family member or really close friend that you dearly love. You wouldnt spend all your time telling them every single bad thing that they do and looking down your nose at them. You may tell them when you don't think something is such a good idea, that's different. If they do it anyway, you love them just the same. The same goes with the way that you are supposed to act towards the people in the world. I can put it like this: That's what God does. What makes anybody better than Him where they think that they are so much better than another sinner that is deserving of death? At some time or another, everybody has lied, cheated, stolen, put something else before God (idolatry), etc. Lord knows I have done those things and more. Therefore we are deserving of the punishment of death. Here's the rub! Jesus was born to flesh, so that He could be tempted and tested as we are, and remained pure to be able to offer the blameless sacrifice needed to fufill the Law.
I see and hear of so many people that hate God and Christians because of what has happened to them in the past by a pastor, church leadership, or just a member of a certain congregation. This also goes into how your actions can effect people in the now and for eternity, but that's a different story for a different time. I have actually had people say to me that I am an awfully weird Christian because of the way that I behave. I am not boasting in myself but in what Christ has done in my life. It's pretty easy, in most cases, to live my life this way. That is what His grace affords me. Because I, and every other person that has accepted the price that Jesus paid for Him to be our Lord and Savior, have been washed in the blood of the Lamb (Jesus), God sees the perfection of Jesus when He looks at us instead of our past sins.
So lets try and love each other for a change. When someone gets mad with you, just smile and tell them you love them. If somebody cuts you off in traffic, pray for their safety to their destination. It's the little things that we do in faith that causes God to act supernaturally and blow your mind! (Exodus 14)
Grace and Peace of God be with you ALWAYS!!
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