There comes a time when you have to ask yourself: If heaven and hell aren't the issue, Is Jesus still worth following. Now you are still saved by grace, etc. but lets put it into context. What is the reason that we have agreed to serve Jesus Christ? The individual salvation is the most popular answer that you'll usually find. That's a great thing to have happen to you. I am all for that. However, is that where it ends for us? If yes, why? Upon salvation we agree to give our lives wholly to the will and purpose of God. "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Sound familiar? Given that, why do we have people that are saved that are jumping down people's throats just because they dont have the level of conviction that they have after their new found faith.
We are not the moral police! We are not the judge of the people in the world around us! We are to be a kingdom of priests to the entire world! (Exodus 13:6) To put it simply, we are to show the world what God looks like if He were in the flesh. Yes, He was in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. With all that being said, why do we have people doing EXACTLY what Jesus said not to.
Jesus spoke with a kind encouraging word to EVERY SINGLE PERSON He met except the religious or greedy people. In Matthew 12, Jesus healed a man of a withered hand and the Pharisees started giving Him crap about healing on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were so consumed by their idolatry of the Law that they forgot about God's desire for mercy over sacrifice. (Hosea 6:6) Fast forward to when Jesus was on the cross. There are people that had just nailed Him to the cross standing there looking at and mocking Him. He looks up into the sky and intercedes for them to receive forgiveness. Furthermore, the man on the cross next to Him asks for salvation, and Jesus forgives Him. That was Jesus Christ! What in the world makes any of us think that we have any more right to condemn those around us than Jesus did? First of all its not our job. Second of all, we have not been sent to tell people why they might go to hell.
People that you might think would be the first ones in line to get into hell were used to write the bible. King David (Psalms along with other writers) stole a man's wife, got her pregnant, killed 17 in one day trying to cover it up. Moses was a premeditated murderer and wrote 5 books of the bible. WHOA, lets talk about Paul! It was this man's job to kill Christians. He was on the way to Damascus to take out some of the big dogs when Jesus stepped in and rocked Paul's world. After a few years, Paul was going around winning people to Christ in droves. My point is that when you love people, edify them, look past their flaws the way God does you will find the most incredible people that you could ever want to meet. I was a guy that was as much in the world as you could imagine. It was the love of my friend that stuck with me and kept the Word near me until the time had come to fufill what God had for me. The more that we curse, put down, look down on other people, the more that we drive them away from the life of blessing that God has for them. God describes Himself as "...the passionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiveness." (Exodus 34:6) The more we drive people away from that destiny, the more they are driven towards drugs, alcoholism, porn, sex, idolatry, false religions. Do I need to go on?
Lets return (meaning of repent) to the best that God has for us. When you walk in His will, you will begin to see it rub off on other people. People will start being happier, more joyful, and just better off in general. It is at that point that you will see people come alive and you will truly have a REVIVAL of the body of Christ!!!
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