Loving Past the Labels

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NKJV I fear the Christian church in America as a whole is missing the mission God called them to because we have become prideful, condescending and self-righteous. We're much like the Pharisees of old in that we call attention to ourselves, our good deeds, & our position in whatever ministry we are part of. We do things more for the fact of being seen of men than we do of pointing others to God. We point a bony finger of righteous indignation at others rather than simply loving them as we are told to. We forget who & what we were when God pulled us out of the muck & mire of the world. I'm not saying that we're not a new creation when we come to Christ & that the old is done away with (2 Corinthians 5:17), because it is and it no longer defines who we are. However, I think it's important for us to remember where we came from in order to be able to minister to others facing the same struggles (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). While it is true that the modern church has been highly influenced by the world around it, rather than the other way around like is should be, we're still supposed to love others in spite of their sin. That doesn't mean we condone sin, just that we choose to love the sinner. How can we expect to minister to them & cause them to turn to Christ if we think we're too good to associate with them? If I recall, Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount that we're supposed to love our enemies, to do good to them that persecute us because even those of the world love the ones who love them (Matthew 5:44-48). We're supposed to be different in that respect. We're supposed to love like Jesus loved & He loved and prayed for even the very ones driving the nails into Him as they placed His body on the Cross of Calvary. Now, that's love! Like Jesus, we need to look past the sin & realize that people are affected by this world, the circumstances of life, addictions, demonic oppression, etc. Regardless of all that, God still loves them & sent His Son to die for their sins. He wants a relationship with every one of them--the thief, the liar, the drunk, the junkie, the prostitute. He sees them all as lovable. Therefore, we need to look past the labels the world has placed on them & see their value through God's eyes. I recall years ago teaching teens at Eastern Valley Baptist Church, sometime in the early to mid 90s. I walked in one morning with a box of children's building blocks, the type with the ABC's on them that toddlers usually play with. I got a lot of strange looks & snarky comments from some 13-18 year old kids. I recall one saying. "Mr. Tony, we're not 3 year olds." But, I had a point to make that day & those blocks played a part in it. I asked those young folks to think about other young people who might feel they didn't fit in or wouldn't be welcome at church. I got responses like the druggie, the unwed mom, the bully, the nerd, etc. As they called them out, I used the blocks to build a pyramid on the desk. Believe me, I was still getting puzzled looks & I'm sure they wondered exactly where I was going with this demonstration. When they couldn't think of any more labels to call out, I handed a block to a young man sitting in the front row & instructed him to throw it at the stack of blocks. He did & the stack of blocks tumbled down scattering all over the desk & floor. Then I hit them with the truth bomb that we either went out of our way to reach the "bad eggs" of society and bring them in to help build the church or we judged & exiled them, destroying the church instead. It was a God moment. I can't claim credit for it, but it was impactful. They mentioned it to me for years afterwards until they moved on to College & Career or Young Marrieds classes as they aged out of the youth group. Life has taken us all on different journeys since then & I'm sure will continue to until Jesus returns or God calls us home to Heaven. The fact still remains that we either build the church by calling in the lost or we allow it to die a slow death and leave the lost to a fate of eternal hell and damnation. I have enough to answer to God for. I don't want to blood of others on my hands. I have to get outside my comfort zone & minister to people who may be much unlike myself because of life choices, ethnic backgrounds, political leanings, etc. It's my job to see them through the eyes of Jesus, rather than my own. What about you? Blessings! Tony