Sometimes, people in our lives do things we are not "okay" with. Ya know?
I've been presented with several of these sorts of situations over the past few weeks (many more than normal)... so many that I was FORCED to stop and figure out how I felt about this and why.
So today I am taking a break from my Question Answering Quest to dig into this issue.
What do you do when someone you love chooses a life that you believe (or know) goes against God's Word?
What do
YOU do?
Now,
WHY do you do that?
I really want to know.
Cause here's the thing...many of my Christian friends pull away from these people and situations to make sure that they aren't mistakenly assumed to condone, accept, embrace, or approve of the sin, and they feel that they need to explain why they can't have a relationship any longer.
What does this actually look/sound like?
"As long as so and so is __________, I can't be friends with them."
I can't say I haven't felt this way, thought this way, or acted this way...
But this whole thing hit me differently over the past few weeks.
Initially, I thought this was the wrong attitude, but couldn't figure out why.
Then I heard the same sort of message in several different sermons.
How did Jesus react to the woman who anointed His feet with oil? (Luke 7:36-50)
How did Jesus react to "sinners and tax collectors?" (Mark 2:13-17)
How did Jesus react to the woman at the well? (John 4:1-25)
How did Jesus react to the woman caught in adultery? (John 8:1-11)
Do you know the answers to these questions? In every situation, Jesus embraced the person. He did not shun them. He did not push them away or even chastise them. (His hatred for the sin did not overshadow His love for the sinner)
Yes, He did say "Go and sin no more" and yes He did point out how many times the woman at the well had been married... but He did not shun them. He reacted with
compassion. His desire was to draw them to Him, to reconcile them with God, not to simply show them what they were doing wrong.
Who DID point out these people's sin?
Who separated themselves from the "sinners and tax collectors?"
Who DID remind Jesus what type of people He was "hanging out with?"
Who DID recoil at the very presence of the woman who anointed Jesus's feet with oil?
Who brought the woman caught in adultery out to be stoned?
Not Jesus.
It was the Pharisees. The Religious Elite. The ones who kept all the rules. Oh how we love to give them a hard time, don't we? I know I do. We shake our heads and sigh when we read about how the Pharisees treated people.
How is the way they acted different from me pulling away from someone who has chosen to live in opposition to God's Word?
You may ask the same question I have...
"But don't I need to help them understand that they are sinning? Don't I need to let them know that they are not in God's will? I don't want to get to the end of my life and regret not telling them."
Just this week I was absolutely convicted by the Holy Spirit....
I was never called to point out anyone's sin to them. Actually, Jesus tells me to get the plank out of my own eye before I point out the speck in someone else's.
Know what I
AM called to do?
- Share the Gospel.
- Make Disciples.
- Teach all the things Jesus has taught me.
After sorting through all this for myself these past few weeks, I was left with the question...
How can I do what God HAS commanded if I refuse to be close to people who choose a life of sin?
There is only one answer to that...
**I can't.**
And I do believe with all my heart that I WILL regret not showing them the love, hope, forgiveness, mercy, and grace offered by Jesus, whose name I bear.
Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17
Just my thoughts...
K
PS... Perhaps your "person" has renounced Jesus... How did Jesus react to Peter after Peter claimed 3 times to not know him? (Mark 16:7) Did you see that????
"Go tell the Disciples AND PETER"
