Our Job…
“This work is not about making sin more clear- but beauty more obvious.” Dan Allender-Mars Hill Graduate School. This is a quote I took off my friend Matt’s blog that when I read it…it brought some things to mind. We spend a lot of time trying to point out the sins of others, and even though I think that there is a time in relationships where we might have to confront someone who is living a sinful life, I believe this should be done through personal relationships and through people who are walking life together. We need to be careful not to stand up from our church podiums, pulpits or soapboxes and make condemning remarks about people who “indulge in” what we would consider “the bigger sins”, because the reality it that we are only one decision away from standing condemned by our own words! The bigger reality is that we ALL stand condemned in a greater way by the things that we are NOT doing (Matt 23:23). I believe this is the “greater sin” if sin needs to be graded.
Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him that the world would saved (John 3:17). He also did not in turn tell us to then go and condemn the world of their sin either. No, He told us to preach the Gospel…Good News…God’s Grace for the world. We need to make the beauty of God’s Grace more obvious to all those who are in the world. It is the kindness of God that leads people to repentence (Rom 2:4). Where have we gone so wrong to think that it is our job to condemn sinners (of which we are one) when Jesus never did! (but he did condemn the religious leaders who judged others lives yet thought they were righteous). We need to be pointing people towards the beauty and stop pointing our fingers at the ugly. (Just some thoughts…that I am sure some will condemn me for… but that’s ok)
Turner