What if Christians were known for their love? As I learn more about who Jesus is, I find myself struggling to call myself a Christian because the two seem quite contradictory. When I think about Jesus, I see love, justice, truth, grace, compassion . . . and, unfortunately, I don’t always associate these things with Christians.
A couple of weeks ago, I learned of a huge controversy happening in evangelical circles about what was written in a book, a book ironically titled Love Wins. Finding myself wanting to stay removed from the debate, knowing frustration and disappointment could easily arise in me, I didn’t do any research on the matter . . . until today. I wish I could say that I felt neither frustrated nor disappointed, but that would be a lie. I actually found myself stunned as I read people’s (“Christians”) responses attacking one another and God in each other. It felt a little bit like what I know of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis where “Screwtape sees a demon's primary goal to befuddle, confuse, and eventually corrupt a person rather than to tempt” him or her to do some extreme sinful act. This seems accurate at Christians are hurting one another by divisive and spiteful comments.
A friend of mine responds to this debate by saying “there is no question that isn't safe to ask. The more we allow ourselves to humbly admit that our view is limited and that we just might not get everything right, and the more we rigorously pursue God, the more God will be revealed to us, beautiful and glorious, bigger and better than we could have hoped or dreamed God would be. We hope to remain anchored in Jesus, seeing each other through his eyes, being gracious to each other when we disagree, and remaining united in him.”
I pray this to be as we learn to love one another in the way of Jesus. I hope they will know us by our love.
No comments:
Post a Comment