There’s no sign these things will stop when the calendar turns over to July 1st. But I’d like to share some thoughts on what we can do to stay above the fray, AND what our duty as Christians is to shine our light into the darkness around us.
First, “Christian” means “follower of Christ”, so our example is Him – always. And when we find ourselves on social media and tempted to fall into the trap of arguing with others over how certain members of society are to be treated – and you know who I’m talking about – then WE are called to follow His example of how to treat them, whoever they are…
“As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “all right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
“No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”John 8:3-11
We are never to condemn. We are always to act with love and mercy and grace. We are ALWAYS to love our neighbor. And who is our neighbor?
Everyone.
We learned that in Sunday School with the story of the Good Samaritan. The fellow who took on the care of the foreigner, paid for his medical care after he was attacked by robbers, paid for his lodgings, and got him back on his feet.
Everyone.
This goes back to the day of Moses and the Torah – the Ten Commandments. We are to love our Neighbor as ourselves.
Everyone includes – well, everyone.
Regardless of race. Regardless of who they love. Regardless of their disabilities – mental or physical. Regardless of their religion. Regardless of their age. Jesus was very clear about this – EVERYONE.
And the reason I say Christians shouldn’t talk about sin is because when we are on social media going on and on in useless arguments about “hating the sin” and “sin is sin whether it’s murder or homosexuality or gossip” etc etc. we obscure our message and bring it’s simplicity to nothing.
Friends, this is a waste of our precious light.
We need to do better than this…we can do better!
We ALL sin – every day. It doesn’t matter WHAT or HOW. We do it and we don’t need to care about what our neighbor is doing.
We need to be about doing Jesus’ business, friends!
Helping the hungry. Clothing the naked. Binding up the sick. Welcoming the foreigner. Speaking for those who can’t speak for themselves. Standing up for human rights.
Being the light against the darkness of evil.
If we’re doing all those things, we won’t have time to waste talking about sin.
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How are you keeping up your witness during these troubling times? Do you have a special mission focus right now? Are you struggling with your witness? Please share in the comments. And if I can pray for you please let me know.
