Love

I don't know about the rest of you, but I really struggle to know how much is too much when it comes to sharing God's Truth. I wish he gave us more specific “directions” when it comes to this area. So often i hear people say, " its not worth arguing, you won't get anywhere. just live it and show them love, and most of all pray for them." Where there is definitely truth to this, I feel more often than not it is just a cop out. It's the easy way to go. I once heard the analogy that if a man was standing in a burning building, would you just walk away and pray he gets out alive? Or would you go in and do whatever it took to help him find the way out? Or lets say you saw someone driving full speed towards the edge of a cliff… would you pray they realize it before the drive over? Or would you do anything and everything to get their attention before it’s too late?

If our God hates sin so much that He had to sacrifice His only Son so we could enter His presence, than we need to hate it just as much. This doesn't mean we hate the people... because if we hate anyone based on the fact that they are living in disobedience to the Word of God, then we should also hate ourselves.  As Christians, we too are sinners, simply redeemed by the blood and not by anything we ourselves have done to earn it.  The two commandments Christ left us with were "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul and all your mind." and "Love your neighbor as yourself." We tend to overlook the words used to describe love in the famous passage 1 Corinthians 13, but I recently read that one of the best ways to truly grasp this piece of scripture is to put your name in place of the word love: "Corinna is patient, Corinna is kind. She does not envy, she does not boast, she is not proud. She is not rude, she is not self-seeking, she is not easily angered, she keeps no record of wrongs. Corinna does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. She always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Corinna never fails." Anyone else feel like total garbage after doing that? I sure DO NOT fit that description!!! read it again, reread it, and again... let the words sink in. We can share God's truth openly and honestly, we just need to do it in LOVE. Share it in kindness, in patience, in humility... we don't need to be rude or get upset when someone attacks us, we are to PERSEVERE, and protect the people of God and the billions of souls at stake, by offering them the only thing  any of us truly needs. 

This applies in all circumstances...clearly there are some subjects that cause a greater "uproar" than others, (ie: abortion, money/greed, homosexuality, etc.). But just because they are "hot topics" does that mean we keep quiet? I can't imagine the great men of God throughout history, the very authors of the Word of God, remaining silent on any of these topics. In fact they were pretty direct when it came to disobedience in general. Given, they were writing to those who already claimed to know the Lord, but even for those who don't, you can still share the Truth without "shoving it down their throats". In those cases, wait on the leading of the Holy Spirit, and of course, always speak IN LOVE. Which to clarify, does not mean we don't talk about sin like the church is teaching anymore. This is where i didn't agree with the late Jerry Falwell... I felt he used the word "You" too much and came across very judgmental when he spoke...I remember a common analogy of his that compared gays to what went on in the barnyard, and even I was turned off by it. I don't mean to discredit him as a person or the amazing things God accomplished through him, but i do believe his approach wasn't the most loving. "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing." 1 Corinthians 1:18 They won't understand, but that doesn't mean we sit still and keep silent, it just means we pray find another approach. 

We are all so scared of controversy, of offending and losing "friends" that we refrain from speaking the truth, hence the birth of the "seeker friendly" movement. We are more scared of upsetting people than we are for their eternal well-being. Believe me, i hate controversy as much as anyone else, it never feels good to have people upset with you, even to the point of hatred. To wake up and realize yet another person has "deleted" you sucks. I don't care who you are, being torn up and spit out verbally hurts, but do we care more about our feelings being hurt or about the security of God's creation? When I face God, will the amount of friends I had on facebook matter more than the souls I could have reached had I allowed myself to fully surrender to God and His will? I agree, there is a point when we should keep our mouths shut...when a  conversation has turned sour and our words are hitting the ceiling. I also believe we should absolutely be personally living what we preach and praying for the lost, especially those in our realm of influence. But God gave us hands and feet, a brain, his Word, resources, and most of all, he gave us grace and mercy, not so we could live a life of peace and  comfort for ourselves, but so He could use us to "Go and make disciples of all nations." Yes, PRAY, but don't pray and just sit on the incredible gift God has given us. PRAY God will use us in a mighty way for His glory, PRAY God will give us wisdom and discernment for when and how to speak His truth, and PRAY God will open the hearts of our listeners to receive it, and Lord willing, to accept His precious gift of salvation.