Jesus is the very essence of life. As a matter of fact, the Bible says that he is Life! And within those dimensions is what seems to be a public secret. Powerful and productive life is known, for certain, but the getting there seems to be a daily hurdle.
Here's the take. Jesus hates, hates, hates sin; yet he loves, loves, loves the sinner. A perplexing factor is that, with him, there is absolutely no middle ground for either. Moodiness? Bias? Self-promotion? Comparative goodness? No. Middle. Ground.
For us, it is too often a completely different story. When we hate the sin, we tend to despise the one who commits it. We hardly like them; let alone dare to die for them. (Of course, the exception is always our ability to overlook our own sin.)
Jesus sets the rules for the stage; hate sin and love the sinner. Wouldn't we transform the church if we were to lay down our accusations, admit that we are in the much needed forgiveness-mix ourselves, and learn to take seriously his admonition...his style? Wouldn't it be amazing what might be done if we who parade his name and his teaching could practice the very core of his earth-walk message?
When it does happen...and it does on occasion...stunning new hope arises for both the issuer and receiver of God's unimaginable grace. There. Is. Nothing. Like. It.
No comments:
Post a Comment