If we continue calling the lost “idiots” for being a certain political ideology, we will never win them to Jesus. We focus so much on the outliers, the extreme symptoms of sin that we fail to address the real issues of the soul.
Do we know how to sit with someone, eat with them, even if they are in sin? Do they have to clean up their act before we associate with them? I am challenged. I am talking about hanging out with sinners and okaying their sin. However, in this world, disagreement = hatred, and agreement = support. Out of fear of communicating “cheap grace” (penned by Dietrich Bonhoeffer), we lean toward ‘clean up before receiving God’s love’. I believe evangelicals have swayed to the far right becoming black and white. We teach the way of grace that we were saved, but require the masses to prove their goodness before allowing entrance to the altar.
I don’t think it was intentional, but we have lost our compassion for humanity. In our desire for people to fully commit to Jesus, and for Christian standards to be elevated in our nation, we stopped showing the heart of God. We have forgotten to listen. Perhaps, it is our heart to listen, but our words cut like a knife. When we post very polarized views that give no room for discussion, we shut down a conversation that could very well lead someone to Christ...If only we had the guts to listen.
How desperate a woman must be if she believes death is her only hope for an unborn child? I promise you - many who receive abortions are not psychopathic or heartless. Would you befriend a gay person and hear their story, grab some lunch and hang out? Homosexuality is no greater sin than the ones we choose to leave buried in our own closets. This question on social justice - can we fully explain perspectives for which we never walked in their shoes?
In this millennium, many people are tired of the American Christian. The very ways in which Jesus showed God’s heart - it was portrayed in the 1800s. However, these movements are now not headed by Christians, but atheists. Humanitarianism is the new Western religion of compassion and the evangelical Christian can only scoff at the blatant sin.
But all the world is aching for is the grace we profess to have freed our own lives.
But we call them stupid. We call them idiots. Freeloaders and enablers. We don’t want to get our hands dirty, yet we will call out the sins that our nation accepts and celebrates. All while on a pedestal, the very ones who need Christ are left with the idea that God wouldn’t want them anyway.
After all, why would He? His own kids don’t want them.
We bear the image of God. If we call ourselves Christian - and an evangelical one at that - how are we evangelizing the name of Jesus? If we are “little Christs”, Jesus’ ‘mini-me’s”, are we portraying Him accurately? He never condoned sin, yet, He was willing to befriend and love the sinner. How can we do the same?
We have exchanged faith for culture and politics, calling them one and the same. If someone adheres differently, we immediately jump to the conclusion that they must be the spawn of Satan, himself! Okay...those who live in sin are considered the children of the devil...but, we once were such at a time in our lives, too. We have made this fathering an excuse to be disgusted by sinners rather than reaching out to them with the gospel...for which we were saved.
Ironically, when Jesus made the “sons of devils” remark, He was talking about the Pharisees (see John 8:37-41). Religiosity has paved the way for many to continue going to hell, rather than redeeming them. We are failing to show that only Jesus can save us. If the way and manner we interact with those who are still living in their sin is that they have to become Christians before we love them in our lives, we are undermining the gospel and expecting the impossible. Only Jesus can redeem, transform and restore our souls. Why do we require more?
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