People who call themselves followers of Christ yet don't.
The Bible can sometimes be hard to understand but it's not open to interpretation (not our own at least). It is God's love story to us, a guidebook perhaps and it gives specific instructions. I am trying to figure them out because it is hard to follow sometimes because culturally things have changed and do not apply in some ways. But I am trying to ask God His interpretation of the Scriptures because our own interpretation gets so skewed by the world.
Jesus walked the earth and loved the people no matter who they were or where they came from BUT he did not love the sin. He preached and He told the truth but He did it in love. (He said, "Go and sin no more.") That is where Christians tend to totally fail. They take it in their own hands to judge and condemn. God is the judge. ("There is no condemnation in Christ.") We are to hold our brothers and sisters in Christ to a higher standard, out of love. Not out of condemnation.
1 Corinthians 13: 1-2
1"If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing."
1 Corinthians 13: 4-8
4"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!"
All that being said, I am struggling with people who try and say that we are supposed to accept things out of love because being judgmental is not how we are supposed to be. I agree that we should not judge. We can love people and not accept the sin they choose to live in. In fact, is a person a Christian or a follower of God if they live in sin? There is a difference between sinning and living in sin. We are not perfect so we will sin but we have a choice to live in sin.
I will not accept the sin. But I will not judge the person. I will love them as Christ has called us to love all. I will not be okay with a sin because the world says its okay. We are supposed to be in this world but not of it. People may not like me because I do not agree with them but that's okay, it says in the Bible that it will happen. All I can do is love people and not judge but also be honest with my beliefs because everyone else is honest about theirs. I am not going to be scared to share my heart out of love.
