Recently
Julie and I were enjoying an evening together, and we ended up doing what we do
a lot without the kids … running errands.
In the last few days I’ve been reminded that because of the work our
church does and because of the reach of social media lots of people know in our
community me and our church. That can be
cool, but it can also be not so cool.
We
were in a store looking shopping and ran into a guy who looked familiar. I said hello, and he proceeded to start a
conversation. He explained where we
met. It was through the church and
through a young man we were helping that was battling addiction and had been in
prison. That also reminded me once again
how we are called to help hurting people and to share God’s love.
The
conversation went in a direction that I didn’t expect. Sometimes these talks go in a bad direction
where someone calls us jerks or hypocrites.
At other times the conversation is filled with gratitude for the help
and resources we get to share and for the love and acceptance people find. That was not the case here.
This forty-something
(I would guess) year old man went at the conversation from several different
directions for several minutes. He
wanted to prove his point that using one translation of the Bible was more
important than whatever translational we use.
He went on to talk about how important he feels that prophecy is in the
every day teaching of the church. I had a
hard time getting a word in edge wise.
When I
finally began to talk, I felt like he wasn’t listening nor was he interested in
listening to me after I listened to him.
My point wasn’t to say he was wrong, though I did disagree with several
things he shared, but my point was that far too often Christians are seen
arguing with each other by the world looking on. As people who don’t care about or follow
Jesus see us and listen, they are turned off because so called Christians are
fighting or arguing about stuff that flat doesn’t matter. I simply shared, and he agreed, that Jesus is
the most important thing and is the only savior. But I continued to say that churches and
Christians have to find some common ground and begin together to serve and love
the people who aren’t in any church.
You’ve
heard this before: for too long people have known what the church is against,
and it is time to let them know what the church if for. Talk really is cheap. If people don’t see the love of God and see
that we are genuine, they won’t care about or listen to our doctrine.
Please
understand that I am not belittling or downing beliefs. What I am saying is that it is important that
to be a disciple and to understand what we believe. We further need to know how to apply those
beliefs to our every day lives.
1 Timothy 4:7 NLT
Do not waste
time arguing over godless ideas
and old wives’ tales. Instead, train
yourself to be godly.
1 John 3:18 NLT
Dear
children, let’s not merely say
that we love each other; let us
show the truth by our actions.
If I had the
gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed
all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.
I’m
convinced that God loves people more than anything else. Further, I am convinced that His church must
have on our hearts what God has on His heart.
Again, that is people. Talk is
cheap. Actions speak louder than words. Let’s make sure our doctrine matches our
action and that the people around us see God through what we do and say. The people around us need Jesus.
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