I recently had an encounter with a friend who seems to be new to the concept of living the Christian life to the fullest. They explained that my utter confidence in Christ and lack of tolerance for other views and things not "Christian" was annoying to them.
As an example, I'm not a fan of movies with a ton of cussing in them. There is one movie that I saw rather unwillingly lately. I think they cussed every other word. Or if there's a song with more than a bit of cussing in it, I'll not want to listen to it.
This friend wasn't thrilled that I can't tolerate that. This shocked me.
Hmmm, usually, I'd get a pat on the back for that, not a chiding. Was there something wrong with me? Was I being too uptight about this? Or, worse yet, was I blinded by any sort of hate?
It was a late-night conversation in which both of us kinda revealed our pasts, growing up and spiritual journeys. I went to bed with tears in my eyes that I had been disapproved of.
I slept on that thought. Do I need to change how I view the world? Am I too "Jesus-y?" I've wrestled with the thought for about a week now. Do I need to change? I found the answer.
Yes.
I need to become even more Christ-like! He saw the world as sin, but he still loved the people. It's hard to love songs and movie with singers and actors who you don't know. That's the rift. Between knowing a person and seeing their sin, and loving them anyway, and not knowing someone and passing judgment on them. So I shouldn't judge the person. Or anyone. Leave that to God. But there's no way I'm going to be tolerant of their sin. I'm GOING to be uncomfortable around it. It's NOT going to be fun.
Please understand that there is a fine line between being IN the world and being OF the world. I want to be in it, but not of it. And we're all sinners. Including me. But I do wish to be like Christ. I can't understand why people would want to cuss and party all day long, trying to fill a void that can only be satisfied with Christ. I guess we're all trying to fill that. And some find Him, and others don't. That's why I need to tell them about Christ. He tells us to. His last command to us before he ascended into Heaven. And so we must obey until the day he returns.
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