Those Mean Christians…
Anybody relate to this? There’s a huge stigma that if you’re a Christian, you’re most likely cold, angry, super-judgmental, and probably holding up some kind of hate sign on a street corner somewhere. Haha. Unfortunately, most likely today, you’re doing everything you can to show the world you’re not that way, so you’ve shifted to the polar extreme and avoid the Bible as much as you can - attempting to couple together the good parts about Christianity with the world’s idea of what a good person looks like. Ultimately, both are harmful to you and those around you.
If our doctrine outweighs our love for others, we don’t actually have good doctrine. If our love for others outweighs our doctrine, we’re not actually loving anyone based on truth but upon our own personal and cultural definitions...which is actually harm in the long run, not love at all.
It’s a fine balance - a razor’s edge, but we need both in harmony as a symbiotic relationship with one another. They should always be feeding each other in an unending loop that gets stronger and stronger over time. The power of the Holy Spirit makes this day-to-day balance possible, but just as we don’t sustain our own lives but can choose to eat healthy or unhealthy, we must choose to feed the Spirit within us by staying in His Word daily, learning His truth in love and submission to the Father, and applying it in humility which leads to loving others Biblically.
We ought to always keep in mind that we are sinners saved by nothing but the mercy of God through Christ, and just because we may know a good bit of Biblical knowledge, we never get to posture up on others because of it. We speak boldly, we never back down from God’s commands and truth, we never affirm sin out of the world’s faulty definition of love, but we are always humble and gracious - we are to be the flavor this world needs. We must also never let Biblical knowledge just fall through the cracks as unimportant, because if we do, we’ll automatically be guided by our flesh into myth, destructive philosophies, and the ever-increasing sway of this world.
If you can relate on one end of the spectrum or the other, I hope this reaches you! Ultimately though, I’m preaching this to me.
