Casting away Stones to Step Up on the Rock

If there is one thing I've learned from living with a non-believer, is the harsh reality of the world's
perspective of Christians.

Not that it's always right. Or just. Or fair.

But something I see is that the lies about who Christ is are sometimes provoked by His followers.

And the victim mentality of many to think that Christianity is being attacked and suffering is all over the place right now. There has always been rebellion against God's righteousness...since the beginning of time. And it has been within His own people and outside His covenanted family. Christ's church should TURN THE OTHER CHEEK and continue to grow in strength and Love, instead of crying out and puffing up to say that we are being suppressed.

Seriously, what can man do to us?

Maybe I need a break from Social Media because...

I see Christ's name 

run a-muck by those 

who Love Him.

They are fighting 

the world's battles 

for Him but not like Him. 

I am confused.

So, today, I think about all the parables Christ spoke, and the commandments he offers in the New Covenant...and the fact that from the very beginning of Scripture, the underlying foundation of God's commandments is:

To LOVE.

Martin Luther King Jr. said it second best (Christ said it first):

 "I have decided to stick with Love. 

Hate is too great a burden to bear."

Sure, there are things such as righteous justice, guarding our hearts from temptation, not stumbling into sin because of those we associate with, but in the end, nobody can deny that when Christ walked the Earth, He was an example of Love.

In a world driven by media...both hate-filled secular media, and hate-filled religious media, we must choose the Rock of Christ in all our dealings.

Let's not choose throwing stones over giving a hand to the world to step up on the Rock.

LOVE.

I've been away from blog land for a while now. Actually, just this blog. I needed to quiet myself and get right with God so to speak. I needed to realize that my fleeting thoughts weren't good material for my blog. It takes some chewing on, some digesting, some PRAYING, to open your heart on a blog. It brings messy turmoil to open it prematurely and then try and step in sync with what you've said, when really, you're not a hundred percent committed to your words. Especially controversial ones.

It came full circle to me with the latest uproar about the Grammy's. I really could care less about what went on there. Have stopped watching Hollywood glorify themselves at award shows for years now. But when I read the lyrics to the song by Macklemore (yeah, just now...I'm really out of the loop), I am deeply saddened. Unfortunately, it sounds like hateful Christianity is what he's been exposed to. His story-in-rap is a symptom of the broken human condition...and I am not just talking about non-believers.

So many Christians, (including me), have spit out their thoughts and ideas prematurely, without chewing on them, digesting them, and most of all PRAYING...so much so, that believers in the greatest LOVE this world has ever seen, are looked upon as the Haters this world feels free to discriminate against.

Those who hate stereotypes in turn, stereotype us. While it is wrong, I see that there are Christians out there that make the temptation of stereotyping hard to resist.

How can that be?

How can a doctrine like the Gospel, centered on LOVE, become so distorted as to blind the blind with Hate? Remember, Christ's ministry? Did He shout from the roof-tops the sin of the people, or did he love the sinner, heal them, and ask them to go and sin no more? We are called to LOVE. The healing and imposed conviction is not our right--only God's.

It shouldn't be surprising. There's an Enemy out there who is the Great Deceiver. And He doesn't just deceive the lost, but the children of God. How appropriate that his biggest attack is on LOVE?

Persecution is inevitable. But let's not ask for it by flippant words and giving into prideful emotions causing us to force our doctrine on those who don't even believe in our God. Let's LOVE, build relationship, seek trust and worthiness to share our hearts with the non-believer. I would say that is the supple ground for God's supernatural power to heal and save.

It's time we as believers fall to our knees before we speak, before we type, before we act. The name of true LOVE is at stake.

After all, it is Christ's greatest commandment:

To Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul. AND, to Love your neighbor As yourself.

Let's stop showing the world what we are against, but show them Who we are FOR...God is Love...pure, holy, right, and true.

That's the LOVE worth celebrating!