Over the years, as my relationship with
God has developed, I have moved from a realm where God is this
happy-go-lucky figure, to one where he is treated with awe and
humility. As I read message boards and social media posts from
modern-day Christians, the respect, that should be accorded to the
one who created the whole world, is missing. Jesus and God are
viewed as these non-judgmental hippie-like entities, that are like,
“Hey man, I'm cool with you breaking my commandments and laws as
long as you love one another.” If that were the case, Sodom and
Gomorrah would still be here, since the inhabitants of those
ill-fated cities did plenty of loving.
The most recent meme I happened to read on Facebook reads as such,
“You call yourself a “Christian”, but Jesus wasn't a snob who
judged people by their imperfections. You may wanna get your Bible
out and check up on that.” Oh there are so many holes in this I do
not know where to begin. It is true that Jesus did not judge and
healed all he came across. But he will return to judge the
living and the dead. The old testament and its laws were not thrown
out with Jesus and his teachings. Here is a quote from Matthew, "Do
not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have
not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." Most will not
understand this in our politically correct times. But we will be
judged, no matter what legislation has been passed or what we are
told to think by the mainstream media.
Judging and hating have become
intertwined in our lexicon. The devil, of course, is always in the
details and maybe that was the way the prince of air had it planned
out. Judging is not hating. You are not an awful or a hateful
person if you refuse to tolerate a behavior that your fellow human
beings find acceptable. You can still love someone and yet not be a
party to their personal struggles with sin. I have loved people who
have been drug addicts and alcoholics. But I did not lead them
further into the abyss by sanctioning the demons that ate away at
them.
The times are rife with pick and choose
Christians. The best advice I ever received as a Christian is to not
make editorial decisions. Meaning, you cannot base your spirituality
and understanding of the Bible on what the media, or your friends, or
family say. The Bible is the
literal word of God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German
theologian who helped the Jews during WWII, stated we must treat it
as if God is speaking to us when we read the Bible, like he is in the
room with us. And the only way that works if you come to the word of
God with a childlike understanding. You must innocently read the
texts and not try to unravel them in order to fit your worldview.
In the
second coming of Jesus, gone will be the soft robes and sandals, and
in their place will be the full armor of God as judgment is meted out
to one and all. As a Christian you must not mistake Jesus and his
caring nature for weakness but see that he had great power that he
was reserving for future judgments. When the time comes that power
will be unleashed and as stated in 2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of
the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a
roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and
everything done in it will be laid bare.”
