I fear that the church as we were raised is dying, and more than that, I'm beginning to think it's a good thing. It has become so narrow-minded, so judgmental, so unaccepting, so unwilling to collaborate with other denominations over things that truly do not matter, so unwilling to have intellectual debates rather than closed-minded arguments, and so stuck in its necessity to indoctrinate people into their own way of belief without instructing them in how to defend that belief.
We need a new generation of Christians and churches – people who truly love people, regardless of belief, background, sexual orientation, or personal history. This is how Christ lived: He accepted prostitutes, beggars, tax collectors, those who were damned by everyone. We need people who don’t “hate the sin and love the sinner”. Those who sin feel that they are their sin. We need to love the person. Period. Nothing else. No requirements or exceptions.
That’s what love is: to accept someone, regardless of their past mistakes. Love is going hungry to feed someone you barely know because they haven’t eaten in days without a second thought. Love is when you would give your coat to the prostitute on the corner because it was going to be cold that night and you knew she would be there for most of the night. It is showing the love of Christ with no regard for your reputation, your livelihood, or your life.
Jesus Christ died on that cross knowing that those who chose to follow him would be in the minority, and that even among them, we would all fail every day. So I will find myself damned to the very deepest and darkest circles of Hell before I condemn even one of them, because I am one of them, a reject, a screw up. The only difference between me and them is that I’ve seen the love Christ has for me. I’d say that makes my one and only job as long as I draw breath to show even a fraction of that love to every single person I meet.
When you have seen the blackest of nights, when you’ve held the knife to your wrist, barely keeping the blade from sliding across your wrist and waiting for the inevitable end to come, that’s when you truly know love. I know loneliness, therefore, I know love. I know abandonment, therefore I know love. I know hopelessness, therefore, I know love. Because I have known all of these things, but been pulled back, I know love. True, unconditional, unbridled love.
The only way to truly shape someone into their full potential is for them to be broken into so many pieces that they don’t believe they’ll ever find them all again. In order to be found, you must first be lost. I know the darkness. I lived in darkness. So now that I see the light, it seems so much more incredible. If you’ve always been able to see, the gift of sight doesn’t seem all that amazing. It is only those who have been blind who really understand how brilliant colors are. So I say it again: this is a call to the followers of Christ. Show love as He showed love – without restraint, without exception, without hesitation, and more than anything without expectation. Show love, because you are loved, whether you know it or not.
We need a new generation of Christians and churches – people who truly love people, regardless of belief, background, sexual orientation, or personal history. This is how Christ lived: He accepted prostitutes, beggars, tax collectors, those who were damned by everyone. We need people who don’t “hate the sin and love the sinner”. Those who sin feel that they are their sin. We need to love the person. Period. Nothing else. No requirements or exceptions.
That’s what love is: to accept someone, regardless of their past mistakes. Love is going hungry to feed someone you barely know because they haven’t eaten in days without a second thought. Love is when you would give your coat to the prostitute on the corner because it was going to be cold that night and you knew she would be there for most of the night. It is showing the love of Christ with no regard for your reputation, your livelihood, or your life.
Jesus Christ died on that cross knowing that those who chose to follow him would be in the minority, and that even among them, we would all fail every day. So I will find myself damned to the very deepest and darkest circles of Hell before I condemn even one of them, because I am one of them, a reject, a screw up. The only difference between me and them is that I’ve seen the love Christ has for me. I’d say that makes my one and only job as long as I draw breath to show even a fraction of that love to every single person I meet.
When you have seen the blackest of nights, when you’ve held the knife to your wrist, barely keeping the blade from sliding across your wrist and waiting for the inevitable end to come, that’s when you truly know love. I know loneliness, therefore, I know love. I know abandonment, therefore I know love. I know hopelessness, therefore, I know love. Because I have known all of these things, but been pulled back, I know love. True, unconditional, unbridled love.
The only way to truly shape someone into their full potential is for them to be broken into so many pieces that they don’t believe they’ll ever find them all again. In order to be found, you must first be lost. I know the darkness. I lived in darkness. So now that I see the light, it seems so much more incredible. If you’ve always been able to see, the gift of sight doesn’t seem all that amazing. It is only those who have been blind who really understand how brilliant colors are. So I say it again: this is a call to the followers of Christ. Show love as He showed love – without restraint, without exception, without hesitation, and more than anything without expectation. Show love, because you are loved, whether you know it or not.
