Creator Love: His design, His way, His love.
Raising people in this world of integrity confusion and neutral morality, is hard.
Wonderful and well intentional training about how to accept people no matter where/who/why they are what they are, can breed an apathetic attitude towards sin in general. Finding a balance of acceptance without compromise or approval is a difficult task to teach and practice.
I personally, don't like the idea of living life like every encounter and person is a mission. Jesus didn't, he just was, he just loved. Being "Jesus" to the world is all about ministering naturally in our circle of influence, with the ultimate tool...love. God love, real love, not messy man version love. So, be clear about love, because the world has warped love. Like, really twisted it up and molded it into some ugly junk. So where do we begin, what do we say, how do we explain, and what kind of maintenance does it take? Here are my thoughts on that.
#1: Sin is sin, is sin. When teaching your people about sin, acceptance and love, we MUST drive home the idea that we don't reject people for being sinners. Because, JESUS didn't. For some reason there is a ridiculous chasm between the radical screaming "christian" on the street yelling at everyone about how they're going to hell, the "christian" who has no conviction and thinks there really isn't any sin or need for correction...and the radical loving Christian who just wants to be like Jesus.
Liars, thieves, sexually immoral, murderers, blasphemers...all sin.
Q:Do we cast out our friendships because they lie to us?
A:not usually. We pray for, counsel and minister to them. So, samsies for any sin. Sin is sin, is sin.
#2 Man does not get to define God/love. God is love, and Love is NOT defined by man, but by who God is and by God alone. Man does not get to decide that God's love is unacceptable or inferior to mans understanding. Furthermore, God determines what is right and what is wrong (sin). This is finite. No arguing, we are not God, our understanding and acceptance of God's reasoning is not required.
#3 Kindness and acceptance should not lead to approval. Compassion should not lead to compromise. When doubt about the sin nature of sin starts to scratch at the foundation of this understanding, we need to step back, refresh and realign with HIS truth.
#4 Maintenance is crucial. Reinforcing the need for truth and the reason behind standing firm about our convictions is vital. We enter these relationships out of love, one of our greatest priorities should be to show them Jesus, because...JESUS. Regularly refocusing on our great commission, keeps us kingdom focused in a world that twists truth, and lies to "comfort" guilt feelings about sin.
In my experience, my 3 very different, very awesome people all got one thing down well....God decides. They don't always agree with God, neither did Elijah, Moses, or Gideon...but they came around, so there's hope! Each one of us has struggled with different aspects of this sin thing, almost all of us have struggled with #3. It's especially hard to detach yourself from friendships that become destructive and cause you to question God's ways. The whole WORLD wants to believe and have everyone else believe, that God's love couldn't condemn...because man wants God to "understand" the struggles. People seem to think that we are more capable of compassion and forgiveness than God. If only every person who thought they could out "god" God, would just read His Word, they might grasp the character and heart of our Amazing Heavenly Father.
Jesus ministered to sinners, where they were, because their sin caused them to withdraw from society. Today they don't withdraw, they're everywhere, often in your face, often quite proud. Telling them they're sinning....doesn't work. Showing them Jesus, getting them reading the Word does.
The simplest way to do all of this is to just check out the way that Jesus did it, He spoke truth about God, He quoted scripture. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. One sin is not really greater than another. Be salt, be light, be Jesus.
Wonderful and well intentional training about how to accept people no matter where/who/why they are what they are, can breed an apathetic attitude towards sin in general. Finding a balance of acceptance without compromise or approval is a difficult task to teach and practice.
I personally, don't like the idea of living life like every encounter and person is a mission. Jesus didn't, he just was, he just loved. Being "Jesus" to the world is all about ministering naturally in our circle of influence, with the ultimate tool...love. God love, real love, not messy man version love. So, be clear about love, because the world has warped love. Like, really twisted it up and molded it into some ugly junk. So where do we begin, what do we say, how do we explain, and what kind of maintenance does it take? Here are my thoughts on that.
#1: Sin is sin, is sin. When teaching your people about sin, acceptance and love, we MUST drive home the idea that we don't reject people for being sinners. Because, JESUS didn't. For some reason there is a ridiculous chasm between the radical screaming "christian" on the street yelling at everyone about how they're going to hell, the "christian" who has no conviction and thinks there really isn't any sin or need for correction...and the radical loving Christian who just wants to be like Jesus.
Liars, thieves, sexually immoral, murderers, blasphemers...all sin.
Q:Do we cast out our friendships because they lie to us?
A:not usually. We pray for, counsel and minister to them. So, samsies for any sin. Sin is sin, is sin.
#2 Man does not get to define God/love. God is love, and Love is NOT defined by man, but by who God is and by God alone. Man does not get to decide that God's love is unacceptable or inferior to mans understanding. Furthermore, God determines what is right and what is wrong (sin). This is finite. No arguing, we are not God, our understanding and acceptance of God's reasoning is not required.
#3 Kindness and acceptance should not lead to approval. Compassion should not lead to compromise. When doubt about the sin nature of sin starts to scratch at the foundation of this understanding, we need to step back, refresh and realign with HIS truth.
#4 Maintenance is crucial. Reinforcing the need for truth and the reason behind standing firm about our convictions is vital. We enter these relationships out of love, one of our greatest priorities should be to show them Jesus, because...JESUS. Regularly refocusing on our great commission, keeps us kingdom focused in a world that twists truth, and lies to "comfort" guilt feelings about sin.
In my experience, my 3 very different, very awesome people all got one thing down well....God decides. They don't always agree with God, neither did Elijah, Moses, or Gideon...but they came around, so there's hope! Each one of us has struggled with different aspects of this sin thing, almost all of us have struggled with #3. It's especially hard to detach yourself from friendships that become destructive and cause you to question God's ways. The whole WORLD wants to believe and have everyone else believe, that God's love couldn't condemn...because man wants God to "understand" the struggles. People seem to think that we are more capable of compassion and forgiveness than God. If only every person who thought they could out "god" God, would just read His Word, they might grasp the character and heart of our Amazing Heavenly Father.
Jesus ministered to sinners, where they were, because their sin caused them to withdraw from society. Today they don't withdraw, they're everywhere, often in your face, often quite proud. Telling them they're sinning....doesn't work. Showing them Jesus, getting them reading the Word does.
The simplest way to do all of this is to just check out the way that Jesus did it, He spoke truth about God, He quoted scripture. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. One sin is not really greater than another. Be salt, be light, be Jesus.
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