A New Revelation of Love

I came to a new revelation several weeks ago and I've been mulling it over ever since. It's caused a major shift in my thinking and I've even had to take a good look at some of the other things I've believed without question.

There are several major questions that non-Christian people will ask of Christians: Is it wrong to drink alcohol? What about sex before marriage? How do you feel about homosexuality?

My first reaction is sadness. If that is what non-believers first see in Christianity, us Christians are doing pretty sorry work in spreading the Gospel. How often do you hear people say, "Oh, you're a Christian? Man, you guys are the greatest bunch of people around!"? I'm willing to bet on... oh... never. More often than not, I get, "You're a Christian? I guess that means you're not allowed to drink of swear or have sex. That sucks."

I heard a preacher say once that Christians get in trouble when we shout what God whispers and whisper what He shouts. Jesus never shouted about homosexuals or alcohol or liars. Jesus' life on earth screamed LOVE!

Here's my revelation: I have gone for so long disregarding all those who say that gay people are born that way. Hold on right there, I'm still not saying they are, but I've had a shift in thinking about this one. According to God's Word, we, as in all of humanity, are born with a sin nature. We are pre-disposed to sin. That means all sin. No sin is greater than another whether it be lying, stealing, cheating, adultery or murder.

What makes a person lead a life of sin is a lack of control. A Christians, we are told that we need to renew our minds. That means, replacing our sinful thoughts with God's thoughts. We cannot expect non-believers to grasp this idea and we cannot fault them for it. Sinners are supposed to sin. That's their job and most of them are pretty good at it. So why do we Christians frown at them for it?

When was the last time you heard God say, "Hey you over there, go judge your neighbour. And you, yeah, you in the white shirt, you haven't pointed out enough sin today." That's not what God is all about.  All through the Bible, God's message to sinners was a message of love. Love. Love. Love. It is not our job to point out sin, nor is it our job to judge. Leave that up to God. He deals with it better anyway.

It's time for Christians to change their thinking. Am I still appalled by blatant displays of homosexuality? You bet I am. But I should feel the exact same way about adultery, lying, murder and everything else that does not include living a life of love. You can't go tell a person all their doing wrong and then jump right into, "So, do you want Jesus in your life?" If all a person knows of Jesus is that he doesn't like their sin, where's the attraction in that?

I want to live a life that attracts people to the Jesus in me. I want sinners to find me attractive because I have something they don't. My actions should be shouting out the love of God while my voice cries of His love and glory.