Trying to draw deep thoughts from a shallow well...
Thursday, October 24, 2013
The Bible isn't just about love...
I was asked yesterday by someone who follows my FB posts:
"How come you never post anything about the reality of sin? If you're going to talk about Jesus, you have to present the whole truth of God, and that includes sin and the need for repentance. It seems that all you talk about is the "loving" Jesus, not the judgment that He told us would happen."
I have to confess that I may be guilty of that (though I know that I have addressed issues dealing with sin before, just not a specific sin)... but I have long felt that I am called to preach, not against anything, but rather FOR God's loving invitation in everything to be saved from whatever threatens to drown us (and that list is large). Repentance that results in a life that is transformed into something that is not a burden, but rather a buoy that others can grab hold of is ultimately, I think, a more effective witness than a host of lists of what others are doing wrong.
Most people already know the actions in our lives that are damaging, even if we're able to rationalize certain behaviors, or try to deny that they are damaging. (Often, though not always, those who shout the loudest in opposition to others' judgment of their behaviors, are engaging in self- evaluation on some level even as they do so. Or maybe to put it more scripturally, the Holy Spirit is wrestling with them.) What some may not know though, is that there is an alternative to the dissatisfaction and pain that always seems present in those destructive behaviors... that there is love available that is unconditional and unfailing and transformational.
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