“For all have sinned,”… You Too
All of us sin, and all of us judge. There are some sins that we commit everyday, and others on occasion. Some, people know about, some, are secrets. but there are certain sins that no person can seem to hide, and therefore are judged at-a-glance by every person they come in contact with.
Two of these ‘public sins’ that came to mind were homosexuality and premarital sex resulting in pregnancy. I am friends with two homosexuals and they are judged by their voices and things of interest such as clothing, interior design, and cooking. My cousin had a kid when she was sixteen and was judged by the shape of her stomach at her age. It sickens me that we do this because we ourselves do the same things and get away while looking like a holy Christian. It seems we have lost sight of Christ’s call to love, to the point that we condemn before we even know a person.
A book comes to mind when I think about this called The Scarlet Letter. It is about a girl who has a baby before she is married in puritan society and is forced to wear a scarlet A, standing for adultery. As she walks through the town that used to welcome her, they see this sin, displayed on her dress and condemn her for it. Others of them have done it, they may not have gotten pregnant but they had not abstained until marriage, and yet they kept it a secret and condemned her for the same act.
As Christians we must be careful not to do this but to accept them as people, just as we are, sinners. We cannot call out a persons sin until we build a relationship because there will be no chance of reaching them with the gospel. When we point out the sin, the unworthiness, and the nature of ourselves resulting in the grace of God, it shows them that there is still hope. When we display ourselves as humble servants of a God who had mercy on his crappy creation, we can reveal what grace truly is. So many Christians try to act like they are so good when in fact, they just ‘know’ the Bible. We cannot do anything good in the eyes of the Lord because of our selfish motives. I wish we could all be more like the old cults of Christianity that used to beat and lacerate themselves for how sinful they were rather than this generation of ‘good’ people. At least they recognized their sin instead of hiding it. I pray that we all will be so entranced with reading scripture that we all realize how much we sin, how adulterous we are to Christ, and how much grace it took to save a wretch like you and me.
I digg the new look and the picture up top is sweet!!! I almost switched to this template today, good thing I didn’t
I think I remember something in the Word of God about Jesus being a friend of sinners. Far too many Christians live like monks than like Jesus. We distance and disconnect ourselves from the world around us, and the people in that world, to the degree that we look less like Jesus and more like the Pharisees.
Now, I am not agreeing with the theological liberals who paint this picture of some “hippie christ” running around singing “all we need is love.” Yes, Jesus genuinely loved people (Matthew 9:36). Yes, Jesus ate and drank alcohol with sinners (Luke 7:34; John 2:1-11). Yes, Jesus went to parties to spend time with the scum of the earth (Luke 5:27-32). But Jesus also made people extremely angry; both the self-righteous (Matthew 12:38-42) and the unrighteous (John 4:16-26).
The differnce between Jesus and us is that Jesus loved sinners and confronted them about their sin. By “loved” I mean something quite different than the oft said “I confront them because I love them.” Jesus genuinely loved sinners, He spent time with them, and He invested His life in them. If we expext to have any impact in this world then we must live like Jesus lived, love lik Jesus loved, and confront sin like Jesus did.
When was the last time you feasted with sinners? Or to be more like Christ-like, when was the last time a group of sinners threw a party for you?
I think we all have much to work on.
Coops – you are back!
Good thoughts in the post. Especially the point about how we should make a relationship with others before we start calling them out in their sin. In just the same way that we wouldn’t start a conversation with a new church visitor about all of their sins – why would we immediately tell a homosexual everything they are doing wrong. I certainly agree that unless at least some type of relationship is built, then our condemnation only serves to provide a stumbling block to the gospel. … solid.
Have you ever read the book: The Ragamuffin Gospel, by Manning. This book definitely shows Christians that we are blood bought by Christ – that is our righteousness. His Grace has saved us, not because we a merely ‘good people’ with less sin than others. Check it out.
Welcome back Coopa! It’s refreshing to hear your thoughts. I expect continued posts like this that spark the mind’s ideas!
although usually I don’t allow excuses — You did declare you engagement to Jennifer a few days ago… So for that, I’ll excuse your recent lack of posts….