An observation that was shared with me this past week as an expression of sorrowful disappointment:
"The meanest people I’ve met have been church people."
It’s true.
And while I know that some of the nicest people I’ve ever met have been church people it just doesn’t seem to balance out.
There is a difference in the behavior of spiritually immature people (babes in Christ) and the cruel behavior of "raised in the church" people.
One we expect. The other we don’t.
We can sure get fired up to battle against what we’ve been lied to believe are the heinous social ills of a self-righteously proclaimed "perverse" society.
And pay no attention to:
Be kind and loving to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ. (Ephesians 4:32 NCV)
It seems to me we should teach or preach no other message to our church people until we’ve figured out how to be kind and loving to each other, until we’ve figured out how to forgive each other just as God forgave us in Christ.
We’ve already lost the battle when Christians are viewed as church people and not Christ people.
"I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other as I have loved you. All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other." (John 13:33-34)
6 Responses to “Bitter Truth”
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November 6th, 2007 at 9:35 am
“Church 101 brother.” If we can’t get this right we might as well close the doors. Thanks for the thoughts.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
I’m not ashamed of Christ, but there have been many times when I was embarrassed to admit I was a part of “church” and “religion” because of this very factor. We can be the meanest of people and we can fight like no other sub-culture. Very sad.
November 6th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
We often cite the apostle Paul on many subjects, but the more I read the “letters to the Christians,” the more I find that great man admonishing us to love, be patient, be kind, be generous, be compassionate, or as in Phillipians 4, he states “let your gentleness be evident to all” (NIV). And then we have those teachings from His own lips while on this earth and the example He left us, in addition to the inspired words from Paul and others. How can we not get it? It’s so sad when we don’t act like we ought.
November 7th, 2007 at 10:01 am
I learned this one day when I heard how defensive I was being about my faith. How sad that we spend more time explaining ourselves than proclaiming the risen Lord.
November 8th, 2007 at 9:45 am
expectation is an interesting thing. we expect more from our family, more from ourselves; and from the outside looking in we expect more from people even when we don’t understand them.
is it mean to disagree? is it mean to not acquiesce? is it mean to have expectation?
we don’t do well forgiveness and gentleness, in either direction. and are you allowed expect something you yourself are not willing to give?
November 15th, 2007 at 10:43 am
“There is a difference in the behavior of spiritually immature people (babes in Christ) and the cruel behavior of “raised in the church” people.”
Except in those cases when “raised in the chrurch” people are still spiritually immature. And I would submit that any “Christian” who is mean or cruel to those outside the church or who condemns others within the church is, by definition, spiritually immature.