Christianity Today
May 28th, 2005I could only assume that the message on the plate protector reflected the owner’s attitude. In unsympathetic terms— and less than polite language—I was informed that I was a loser and that that was “sad.” What a downer! My eyes traveled over the rest of the gray SUV. To my chagrin, I found myself looking at the familiar fish symbol—and the name of Jesus. What a place to find that name!
Jesus sought out sinners and loved them, even as He refused to tolerate their sin.
We as Christians have been known to refuse to tolerate sinners at all—especially those who commit the “really bad” sins. We hold protest signs proclaiming that “God hates gays”. In the meantime, family Bible reading is becoming a thing of the distant past. “Christians” know little of what they believe or why, and are sometimes held up as examples of a remarkably unloving bunch.
I do not mean to imply that we should condone sin or that any part of scripture is invalid. I do wonder where we are as a church. I am afraid we reflect the back of the SUV a great deal more than we do the One we claim to follow.
We are an unloving bunch–you’re right. Like the older brother of the prodigal son, we are shocked to learn that God earnestly desires to give forgiveness and salvation to even the worst of sinners. We cringe when a dirty drunken man desires salvation and comes to the open arms of the Father who lovingly embraces him and says, “This my son was once dead but now is alive!” We say “Christ died for the ungodly,” but in reality we show by our actions that Jesus only died for the select few (”the church”)–a shame to the call of the Gospel!