Anyway, we were discussing the goodness of God, and how it
seems, that the church has not grasped how good God really is.
Years ago my friend asked me a question, “Is God really
better than we have believed?” I believe
He is.
My question is, “Is God better than we have expressed Him to
others?”
When I see Christians portrayed on television, movies or in the
press, generally, it is not necessarily in a good light. A large bit of the images in media and
entertainment about believers has been in the light of us being judgmental;
full of hypocrisy and hatred and bigotry; or it has often the exposure of the
failures of our leaders.
Although I’m sure we can find a few negative portrayals here
and there over the years, most of the expressions and portrayals of the Lord Jesus
Christ are positive.
Why is that?
Is it because Jesus is seen as loving and non-judgmental,
and for the most part the church is not?
I think that is a part of the dilemma I see in reaching out
to non-believers. Most of them I come in
contact with (at least here in the States) have heard some expression of
Christianity that was not loving and “attractive.” “Attractive,” that is, in the sense of a
magnet attracting metallic
objects.
Often, we repel people by what
we say or do. Instead of participating
with the Holy Spirit as He draws people like moths to a flame, sadly, we have sometimes
been like blowtorches burning everything and everyone with our attitudes and indifferences.
Unbelievers tend to come away with a sense that we have it
all together (and they don’t, and won’t be able to ever measure up). Of course, we’re not always too keen on
sharing our own struggles with our brothers and sisters in Christ; much less
with our non-believing friends.
By the way, I sincerely hope you still have non-believing
friends. I remember hearing a statistic
years ago that the average convert to Christ has no unbelieving friends within
eight months of conversion. We tend to
surround ourselves with people who are like us and agree with us. In Christian circles, we then have our own
language, “Christianese,” that is unintelligible to outsiders.
Jesus was not well known as a judge. He was accused of being a winebibber and a
glutton by the religious leaders of His day.
He was called those things, not because He actually was, but because He
identified with the people that were. He
hung out with winebibbers, gluttons, prostitutes, and tax collectors. You know,
the kinds of people that no upstanding self-righteous person would ever dream
of being in the same neighborhood, much less, eating a meal with. In the words
of a 7th grade girl, “Eeewww!”
But the people followed Him, they invited Him into their
homes – and He went. He was not ashamed or
afraid of what people might think of Him “hanging out” with the non-rich, and
not so powerful. He loved them, and was a friend of sinners.
Jesus
Christ came as the manifestation and demonstration of God's love to the world.
A
verse I have been meditating on for the last six months is found in 2
Corinthians 5:19;
“..God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” (KJV)
If
God did not hold anyone’s sins against them, why do we?
Doesn’t that verse say that He has given us the same word of reconciliation?
“Now
then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we
implore youon Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew
no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (NKJV)
We
are ambassadors of love and reconciliation, not ambassadors of judgment and
condemnation.
If
God did not hold my sins against me (and He didn’t, and hasn’t), then I am
challenged to not hold other people’s sins again them. I am to love the
unlovely and to reach out to those I may not like or agree with. I may differ
with someone’s lifestyle or choices, but I am compelled to love them in Jesus.
I
believe that God is much, much better than we have expressed Him to others. He
is much, much better than we have believed, and I believe He is daring us to
love in His name.
Peace.
In Jesus.
