In a world full of hurt people, broken lives, shattered dreams and the struggle of just getting by, faith can be a wonderful source of peace and consolation.
Can be, you ask?
I say it as such because it is no help to the wounded walking amongst us (and really, isn't that everyone at one time or another?) if you choose to show them your faith in an ugly, condescending manner, or as a weapon to make them feel inferior and worthless.
When we use our faith to be snide, cruel, jeering, or condemning of a person's heart and soul, we are not carrying the Gospel of life to them. We are not bringing them the Good News. We are not sharing the joy of Christ. We are not doing anything that is good, but rather that which belongs to the devil.
If we use faith in such a destructive manner, we have warped the Gospel into a new creation, and it is an ugly creation at that. There is nothing holy in such a false gospel, nothing life giving, nothing worth sharing.
The Gospel is offensive enough to a fallen world without you or I being personally offensive in how we live and share it.
The Gospel? Offensive? Have you lost your mind, you ask?
The Gospel IS offensive to those who reject it; the idea of sin and accountability is everything our generation does not want to hear, does not want to face. The idea of carrying your cross for love of Christ is not what a pampered society thinks of as worthwhile. The commandments to turn the other cheek, love not only our neighbors as ourselves, but love and bless our enemies is repugnant to a people who love to live in polarized positions and bash those whom are different. (Just look at our politics.)
In our society we don't want to be accountable to God. We don't want to be loving to those we don't like. We don't want to forgive. We don't want to show mercy. We don't want to repent and put our trust, not in ourselves, but in Christ to save us. We don't want to be helpless.
So yes, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive to the heart and mind, it causes us to either choose it, or reject it. We must either submit and have our "old selves" die so that a new creation is born, or we set ourselves against God. Jesus tells us there is no other way. "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters (works against Christ)" Matthew 12:30
In a culture that likes to pick sides (you are this political party, I am that. You root for this team, I root for that one.) we don't like the idea of having to pick a side for faith. But Jesus leaves us no choice; we are either with Him, or against Him.
(Pick wisely.)
So how, you ask, are we supposed to carry an "offensive" Gospel into the world without being offensive ourselves?
By carrying it in love. By speaking the Gospel truth in love. By acting in love.
By not name calling and picking petty fights.
By not looking for a reason to use the Bible to hurt someone, but rather for times to use it to heal people.
By trying to see people as made in the image of God and worthy of love...because they are.
By caring, really caring. By listening. By helping.
By realizing you're not the judge of someone's soul, and neither am I. God is, let Him handle it.
One of my favorite verses comes from 1 Peter. It sums up, I think, how Christians should present their faith to the world, and how we should live in our faith *in* the world.
"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15
No faith based in the glee of hurting other people will ever help bring someone into God's kingdom. A false gospel based in the darkness of human cruelty does not shine with Christ's eternal light. An angry, bitter faith doesn't reveal the joy and peace of Jesus. It cannot share what it does not have.
If you use your personal faith, my friends, to hurt people around you, examine yourself against Christ's Word to see if you are truly in the faith. Someone walking with God will show the fruit of the Spirit in their life as their walk progresses.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Galatians 5:22-23.
Are the fruit of the Spirit evident in your life? Is His peace and joy showing in you? Are you sharing the Good News with gentleness and respect? (And could there be any better "Good News" than to learn of Christ, who loves us enough to have come down amongst us-- Emmanuel, God *with* us-- to teach, love, suffer and die upon a Cross so that we might find salvation and eternal life? There is NO better news!)
In a world so broken, with people so hurt, let the love of Christ flow through you to those in need. To the lonely, the depressed, the hurt, the scared, the angry and defiant. We have truly Good News to bring to the world, let us do so in love. In gentleness. In respect.
When people know you love them, they'll listen. But if they think you're using faith as a weapon to hurt them, they'll run...and who can blame them? Let our words only further the Kingdom work, not hinder it, my friends.
Be blessed, and may you be a blessing unto someone else,
-Beth Haynes Butler
Can be, you ask?
I say it as such because it is no help to the wounded walking amongst us (and really, isn't that everyone at one time or another?) if you choose to show them your faith in an ugly, condescending manner, or as a weapon to make them feel inferior and worthless.
When we use our faith to be snide, cruel, jeering, or condemning of a person's heart and soul, we are not carrying the Gospel of life to them. We are not bringing them the Good News. We are not sharing the joy of Christ. We are not doing anything that is good, but rather that which belongs to the devil.
If we use faith in such a destructive manner, we have warped the Gospel into a new creation, and it is an ugly creation at that. There is nothing holy in such a false gospel, nothing life giving, nothing worth sharing.
The Gospel is offensive enough to a fallen world without you or I being personally offensive in how we live and share it.
The Gospel? Offensive? Have you lost your mind, you ask?
The Gospel IS offensive to those who reject it; the idea of sin and accountability is everything our generation does not want to hear, does not want to face. The idea of carrying your cross for love of Christ is not what a pampered society thinks of as worthwhile. The commandments to turn the other cheek, love not only our neighbors as ourselves, but love and bless our enemies is repugnant to a people who love to live in polarized positions and bash those whom are different. (Just look at our politics.)
In our society we don't want to be accountable to God. We don't want to be loving to those we don't like. We don't want to forgive. We don't want to show mercy. We don't want to repent and put our trust, not in ourselves, but in Christ to save us. We don't want to be helpless.
So yes, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive to the heart and mind, it causes us to either choose it, or reject it. We must either submit and have our "old selves" die so that a new creation is born, or we set ourselves against God. Jesus tells us there is no other way. "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters (works against Christ)" Matthew 12:30
In a culture that likes to pick sides (you are this political party, I am that. You root for this team, I root for that one.) we don't like the idea of having to pick a side for faith. But Jesus leaves us no choice; we are either with Him, or against Him.
(Pick wisely.)
So how, you ask, are we supposed to carry an "offensive" Gospel into the world without being offensive ourselves?
By carrying it in love. By speaking the Gospel truth in love. By acting in love.
By not name calling and picking petty fights.
By not looking for a reason to use the Bible to hurt someone, but rather for times to use it to heal people.
By trying to see people as made in the image of God and worthy of love...because they are.
By caring, really caring. By listening. By helping.
By realizing you're not the judge of someone's soul, and neither am I. God is, let Him handle it.
One of my favorite verses comes from 1 Peter. It sums up, I think, how Christians should present their faith to the world, and how we should live in our faith *in* the world.
"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15
No faith based in the glee of hurting other people will ever help bring someone into God's kingdom. A false gospel based in the darkness of human cruelty does not shine with Christ's eternal light. An angry, bitter faith doesn't reveal the joy and peace of Jesus. It cannot share what it does not have.
If you use your personal faith, my friends, to hurt people around you, examine yourself against Christ's Word to see if you are truly in the faith. Someone walking with God will show the fruit of the Spirit in their life as their walk progresses.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Galatians 5:22-23.
Are the fruit of the Spirit evident in your life? Is His peace and joy showing in you? Are you sharing the Good News with gentleness and respect? (And could there be any better "Good News" than to learn of Christ, who loves us enough to have come down amongst us-- Emmanuel, God *with* us-- to teach, love, suffer and die upon a Cross so that we might find salvation and eternal life? There is NO better news!)
In a world so broken, with people so hurt, let the love of Christ flow through you to those in need. To the lonely, the depressed, the hurt, the scared, the angry and defiant. We have truly Good News to bring to the world, let us do so in love. In gentleness. In respect.
When people know you love them, they'll listen. But if they think you're using faith as a weapon to hurt them, they'll run...and who can blame them? Let our words only further the Kingdom work, not hinder it, my friends.
Be blessed, and may you be a blessing unto someone else,
-Beth Haynes Butler
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