Matt 10: 21“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.
If the church, meaning we as individuals and we as a combined unit under the name Methodist, cannot stand firmly on God's word, we reduce it to a meaningless and irrelevant document. Today's politically correct secular society demands inclusion and acceptance of all behaviors or hurls accusations of judgment and failure to love. In fact, failure to love is exactly acceptance of just any behavior. I don't love my children properly if I don't demand they respect authority or keep them safe from harm. That requires that I observe and when necessary correct their behavior. That isn't judgment, its the ultimate form of love.
What do you stand for today? Jesus said we would be hated because of Him in the very next verse. If we're being effective in our witness, someone should be hating us. Obviously seeking out hatred isn't our goal, but if we're effectively witnessing, we should be stepping on some toes. Like parenting, being a functioning Christian means showing love in all its forms including accountability. Who is alienated by your witness? Much more importantly, who is in the fold today because you were obedient to the leadership of the Holy Spirit?
We spend a lot of time ranking football and other sports. We should probably spend some time assessing our witness as it has eternal value (or not!). Do we really have the courage to take a stand for God and His word (Christ!) whether popular or not, or have we bought into the lie that church should only be a place of positive reinforcement?
2 comments:
Very timely, considering the "lively" conversation I had at breakfast yesterday. Maybe we'll get a chance to talk before Julie and I leave for Blue Lake today.
Brother,
Sorry to miss you this morning. I hate that you're not getting along with Sean any better. Obviously this has been on my mind lately.
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