Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, And the righteous will walk in them, But transgressors will stumble in them.
38 ... For if this doctrine or purpose or undertaking or movement is of human origin, it will fail (be overthrown and come to nothing); 39 But if it is of God, you will not be able to stop or overthrow or destroy them; you might even be found fighting against God! (AMP)
For it is written, I will baffle and render useless and destroy the learning of the learned and the philosophy of the philosophers and the cleverness of the clever and the discernment of the discerning; I will frustrate and nullify [them] and bring [them] to nothing. (AMP)
In his book, Beautiful Outlaw John Eldridge states that "The spirit of our day is soft acceptance of everything - except deep conviction in anything. This observation really resonated with me. Rick Warren said something similar: “Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.”
I admit that I'm very frustrated by today's church. We've accepted satan's lie that by standing firm in the conviction of Scripture, we risk losing numbers or driving people away. Yet even Jesus told us that he was sending us out like sheep among wolves and that brother would betray brother (Matt 10). We endure those who oppose God and would seek to marginalize His word by calling it extreme or other names, but we must stand firm. That doesn't mean we don't love sinners, after all we are all the same, but it does mean we don't simply accept sin in the name of love. We've got to do a better job of loving sinners and holding them accountable for sin just as Jesus did. We're pretty good at the first part, but ignore the second.
Don't let Satan sell you a lie. Know God by knowing and obeying His word.
1 comment:
Sounds like a book I need to read. This message has to be more than good thoughts, it has to be a part of how we interpret our world today. It isn't enough to just be who we are and they'll be who they are anymore in our Christianity because we are under attack like never before. Everything we see, everything we hear, what they want to teach us, and how they condemn us all reflect your thoughts above. And so we must understand how to be convicted and to love correctly. Truly it is the highest form of love to show someone what is separating them from God is it not? Yet we are condemned as haters for loving someone so much we want for nothing to separate them from the fulfillment of their soul and the solution to everything in this world. Yes, we can love someone without agreeing with them and yes, you can disagree with what is keeping them from being closer to God.
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