Every once in a while I’ll read something that just sticks with me for a while. I had one of those moments last week when I read about a group of Christians at a gay pride parade on Tim Shraeder’s blog. Expecting the typical Westboro-style idiocy, I was blown away to see a group of believers had gathered at the rally with a simple purpose: communicating love.
It’s surprising how often believers miss this, and I’m just as guilty of it as everybody else. Something in me is so eager to point out the sin of others, perhaps to take the focus off of my downfalls and attain some sense of positional righteousness. “I lie, but I’m not cheating on my taxes like that guy. I’m materialistic, but I’m not taking on loads of debt like that couple. I struggle with lust, but its nothing ‘weird’ like those gay people.” It’s almost as if I’m able to minimize my sin with some sort of imaginary measuring stick. It’s us forgetting that we’ve all fallen short of God’s standard.
We forget so easily that first and foremost, our job is to share the Good News and love on people. When people look at you and your ministry, are you defined by what you stand against or who you’re standing for? That’s something I’ve been chewing on since last week.
Is there a place for rebuke and repentance in the life of a believer? Absolutely. It just seems like so many of us wrongly relish in the shame of sin rather than the unbelievable forgiveness found through Jesus. I’ll leave you with this quote from Billy Graham (which I oddly had never heard of before last week):
“[...] it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge, and it’s my job to love.”
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