Choosing Sides

   So many times we feel like we need to fight against each other. I'll give you some examples:  men vs. women, street smart vs. book smart, pro-life vs. pro-abortion, Christian vs. Atheist, etc.

   You get my point. Many times we think we need to choose a side. We fight against each other in many ways. My question is why? 

   John 13:34 says "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." We are to love others like Jesus loved others. Did Jesus go around fighting his brothers and sisters? Yes, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees. He calmly told them the word of God and left it at that.  

   You may be saying: "I'm not Jesus. I'm not perfect. I lose my temper." Yes, we lose our temper, but our goal is to emulate Jesus. We will never be perfect and Jesus still loves us. However, we are to try to grow to be more like him each day. 

   Does that mean we are to be tolerant of sins? No, at least not in the way the world thinks tolerance means. We are not to just sit back and say "your truth is your truth. My truth is my truth." We are to spread the Gospel as Matthew 28:19 says "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." That doesn't mean we should get out our bibles and thump people over the head with them. It means we should spread the Gospel in love as Jesus did. We serve others as Jesus did. 

   Sometimes I think we forget that Jesus came because he loves us. He came to defeat sin so he could be with us. I have been saying, in some of my blogs, that we are at war today. Our battle is not with each other. Our battle is against sin and Satan. The bad news is that some people try to fight this battle on their own. The worst news is that some people embrace sin and Christians try to fight against those people. Yes, we should not accept when others sin. But, many times we tend to judge those who sin. We are not the judge, God is. We can hold one another accountable but we are to do that in love. If we don't do it in love how are we to spread the Gospel? People will not want to be a part of something where they feel judged. We can say, "I don't approve of what you are doing, here's why (show bible verses). But, I still love you because Jesus loves you.  

   Now, lest you think there is only bad news, I will tell you there is good news. The good news is we don't need to fight against each other; and we don't need to fight the battle against sin on our own. The great news is that Jesus has already won the battle. We don't need to fight against sinners. We don't even need to fight against Satan on our own. Jesus fights with us and he already won for us. We can choose to rest in that and use his word, as he did, to fight battles we face. Because, we still have our own battles to face.  

   That's why I'm saying I think it's time for us to stop picking sides. We are all human. We all mess up. We all sin. We don't need to fight against each other to make that worse. What we can do is lovingly keep one another accountable. What we can do is encourage one another. What we can do is spread the Gospel through his love. 

   So, are you fighting against your brothers and sisters? Do you lovingly keep others accountable? Are you spreading the Gospel in love?

   Image from here.