Be the light....

I am so delighted that Jeff got to go to this meeting at 1st Assembly last night and hear about a group of people who implanted themselves in a very unchurched area and are just serving the community. They are not bullhorn or soapbox preaching, or being intrusive in any way. They are honest and open about their values and beliefs, but do not let that stop them from serving ANYONE!! They don't make judgments. It is people like this who are reaching the world for Jesus Christ because they are #1 loving the lord with all their heart, and #2 loving their neighbors. It IS possible to love people and disagree with their actions. Loving people is not protesting and calling names and making fun and starting fights. Loving is praying for and serving and helping people who do not know the truth. To serve someone and love someone is not saying you approve of their behavior, but that you accept them as part of Gods creation, they are in fact, your neighbor and God calls us all to love!! It is important to stand by the word of God and do not candy coat what you believe is the truth, but you can do so in a respectful way.

Lets not forget that Jesus himself came into this world, spoke the truth, and then let each individual decide what they were going to do with it. So how can we, as a broken and flawed, sinful humanity, force our beliefs on people when Jesus Christ himself did not do that? We have no right! Any way you look at it, politically, morally, personally, spiritually...forcing a belief does not change a heart. You cannot make something a law and think that it fixes the problem. Some people get so angry, on both sides of the spectrum, because they think that legislating an issue will solve deeper problems than just the legality of things. But to truly have someones heart changed, to where it makes a difference in the world, they need to be approached with love and respect and choice.

When I was lovingly approached with the truth, many years ago, the person had prayed for me consistently without my knowing. It was someone I knew, someone I respected, someone I trusted. They told me the truth of Jesus and that I didn't have to live my life that way. But then with continued prayer, they left it at that and I was able to make the decision for myself. At first I still rebelled against what they were saying, I was probably drunk anyways. But the seed was planted and months later I seriously re-devoted my life to Christ. He did not tell me that my body was a temple and I was destroying it by drinking all the time, he didn't tell me that by cursing all the time and using the Lords name in Vain I was sinning and insulting God and blah blah blah....because I didn't know God, and frankly, I didn't care. He did not expect kingdom behavior from me because I was not part of the kingdom and did not have that kingdom perspective. I wish that people would see this when they are out on the streets yelling at people they disagree with, trying to make our morals, their laws. By making a law out of our moral value, it is not changing the hearts of non-believers. It is pushing them further away. We need to be reaching people at their heart, by really caring and serving and loving them, before a change can happen. Even then, it is by Gods grace that we are saved, and if we are following his footsteps and living the way he modeled for us to live, people will want to change, and He will reach the world through us.