A Heart For Love

I took a look at my news feed today, and wow, who knew there were so many opposite opinions? I had to find out what those red symbols were….who knew? Not me. Well, let me preface this all by saying God gave us a job. He can judge just fine, and so we don’t need to do that for Him. He also reminded us that the only one throwing stones at other people should be ones with no sin at all. Kind of levels the playing field. There is a lot of sin in this world, not just one or two kinds! And it’s all the same to God, whether you are a gossip or live a lifestyle in opposition to His Word. Don‘t let it make you mad at people. People didn‘t make the commands. God did. You can either follow Him or follow the world. He gives that choice to us.  And so, it’s not for other people to come after you. Remember that job I mentioned?  It’s to LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Seems peaceful to me. Not everyone loves what you DO, right? But you want to be loved for WHO you are.

 Why everyone likes to pick on any one sin is a mystery to me. There are so many!  Some seem “big” or “small” by our worldly definitions, but to God, sin is sin. And sadly, I commit sin too. If we all looked inside, we’d realize we are not as squeaky clean as we’d like to believe. It always seems like “someone else” is worse off than you, right? Well, God doesn’t compare you to anyone else. He looks at just you and wants your accountability to Him. It really doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing. So why all the attention on one sin or another? I don’t know. Not being a lover of politics, I have to believe it’s probably political. Everything seems to be that way these days. You can only be one or the other. Well, I can’t seem to find anything about either popular political party in my Bible. I’ve looked.  And while it’s fine that you have strong political beliefs and stands, don’t let it get in the way of loving people.  While we are to confront sin, we need to confront it in ourselves first before we go around “fixing” everyone else. 

Don’t forget to see that the picture is much bigger than we think. Sure, God cares about every little thing we care about, but He didn’t put us in charge. He wants us to love as He loved so that we can see and reflect Him.  And the business of sin and forgiveness is God’s business more than anyone else’s. His business is Love. It's why He came. It's why He sent His Son. It's why He died. It's why He will return. Love. Not politics. Not hate. Not anything else!

 You can’t reflect God feeling hate or judgment or condemnation. You can't honor and serve Hiim while looking around to see what everyone else is doing wrong. There is a lot wrong in this world and we aren't to turn a blind eye or a heart to it. My issue is that we like to cherry pick our issues according to what we are or are not comfortable with. That is wrong. You are a much better servant when you talk to the woman at the well instead of talking about her. Instead of carrying a sign that displays who you are against, carry one in your heart that says Whose you are.