Wednesday, December 15, 2010
A Hug...or is Something Else Needed?
I love being nice. In fact it has been one of my trademarks. Sweet encouraging words and hugs to lift the soul are never far from my heart. Over the years I have gotten comments like, "You are the sweetest person I have ever known.", "You always know the right thing to say.", "Why are you so nice?" I hope that the Lord has used some of this "niceness" to draw others to him but I have recently realized that my niceness has been out of place. It has been offered out of a competing love for the Lord and the world that has left me with niceness. Why niceness? Because it allows me to extend love even when undeserved out of love for the Lord without costing me the worlds love. Niceness is an idol in my life. Jesus never offered a hug when something else was needed. Given that I am unaware of the word "hug" being used in the Bible let me reword it this way, Jesus never offered sweetness at the expense of truth. God said this through the prophet Jeremiah, "Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, 'As the Lord lives,' even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people. But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the Lord." Jesus has come but he is God and God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. God does not take sin lightly and he goes to great lengths to move us to repentance, but if as his people we are not speaking truth, and people remain ignorant of the coming destruction, then we are not only not loving we are in fact condemning them in the truest sense of the word. If in light of sin I adopt our cultures words and say "Its alright, everyone makes mistakes." Then I am prizing my comfort above their need for truth. God is love and his love is always extend but it is extended in life saving truth not in face saving pleasantries. Jesus came to save all people but it never looked the same. He appraised the situation and offered what was needed not what was wanted. For the adulterous women he saved her from stoning but told her "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more." (John 8:11). For the repentant Canaanite women who was rejected by the disciples but declared Jesus her master Jesus replied, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." (Matthew 15:28). To the rich young ruler who had dedicated himself to following the law Jesus said, "If you would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." (Matthew 19:21). To the pharisees Jesus said, "Now you pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you." (Luke 11:39-41). And to the money-changers who defiled the temple Jesus "entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, 'It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers." (Matthew 21:12-13). Jesus' desire was for the salvation of these men and yet he did not have a "nice" response to their sin. For each of these people the purpose of his response was to lead them to repentance, to offer them life to the full, to offer them eternity with him. Yet, his responses were bold and required a response from the people they were addressed to. This is the type of love that Jesus spoke of. This is the type of love that he exemplified. And this is the type of love that we are called to. May the Lord forgive me for the times I have offered a hug when something else was needed, and may he give us the strength to speak the truth in love no matter the cost.
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Man, my friend...this is something the Lord has convicted me of lately where we "love" at the expense of tolerance because it is easier than accountability or meeting the need more specifically. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHey Ashley, my name is John. I read a lot of blogs on religion and prayer and I've i feel like I've ended up here once before. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this prayer exchange website PrayerMarket.com I thought it was an interesting idea and would be curious to hear what you (or other Christians) think about it
ReplyDeleteI'll check back here in the next day or two, thanks & God bless
John W.
Hey John,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment and it is nice to hear from you John. I went and looked at ParyerMarket.com. What an interesting idea. I have a couple thoughts. First, I think the power of prayer is under-appreciated in the church today. Jesus said things like "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the son." (John 14:13). Yes there are ways that this can be misused, but what is more common is that it is ignored. This website seems to encourage the belief in the power of prayer and that is wonderful. My second thought is that God is very clear that it is important that we pray in the right spirit. Because of this I think it is important that this site not be used in the same way as a social networking site. By that I just mean that the use of it would need to be thoughtful instead of being treated like a hobby or game. This is of course the responsibility of the user. Finally, the only thing that really concerns me about the site is that prayers can be used as currency. If I am understanding it correctly you can literally cash in your prayers for money or pray for others in exchange for money. In my opinion this leaves a lot of room for the use and heart of the site to be corrupted. This also makes me question the motivation of the site because as brothers and sisters in Christ we should not need incentive to lift each other up in prayer. What are your thoughts on the site?
Ashley
Kare, I am right there with you. The amazing thing is that I have never realized that it was wrong until now. I have always been aware of the need to follow the Lord and live according to his ways and not compromise in my own life. But I have not thought a lot about the committment as Christians to speak truth, perhaps especially confrontational truth, into the lives around us. Actually let me restate that, I think the Lord has been trying to confront me about it for some time and I have simply been unresponsive and disobedient. As your recent post said we are always to speak truth in love but we are still to speak truth not just live it.
ReplyDeleteAshley