I don’t know if the world has ever been more at odds with each other. Really I don’t know. I can’t say with authority that we live in a more divisive time than ever before, but we’ve got to be pretty close. You cannot hear people discuss opposing sides of an issue anymore without being down right hateful toward each other. And it really doesn’t even matter what the discussions are about any more – political, financial, marital, etc.. Civility and common decency have been thrown out the window. Saving face is the name of the game even at the cost of kindness.
That lack of civility has even extended to differences pertaining to Christianity, among people who claim to be God loving, Bible believing disciples of Jesus. Yes, people believe they have the right to be mean spirited even in the name of religion. Sound ridiculous? Good, because it is. While at times discussions may call for us to be blunt or candid, there is never an occasion when a discussion calls for us to be hateful. Christianity calls for us to love God and love each other. That means we deal with each other in loving ways that means we do all that we can to keep Christianity kind. But how can we do that, even in the most extreme of circumstances?
- Remember the emphasis God placed on love. Statements like Jesus made in Matthew 22:37-40 should slap us right in the face. All of God’s expectations on His people throughout history have been hinged on that people’s willingness to not only love each other but their willingness to love everyone. Yes, that might be tough love if the situation demands it, but never hatred. Ephesians 4:15 comes to mind when Paul encouraged the “speaking of truth in love.” But above all anger, spite, or even envy should never be our motivators. Only love.
- Let the Golden Rule guide all we do. Jesus words in Matthew 7:12 are familiar to practically the entire world – “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Or course the more familiar wording might be “Do unto others as you would have them to unto you.” Either way you say it the principle is still the same. We should deal with other in all situations in the same way we would want others to deal with us. The simplicity of this point is often lost on us but the reality is that we would all want people to deal with us kindly. Thus, we should deal with others kindly as well.
- Don’t forget the kindness of God. What if God treated our sins and difficulties the way that we treat the sins and difficulties of others? We wouldn’t have a chance in the world. And that is precisely how much grace we tend to bestow on others who find themselves in the wrong. We write them off, write them up, and write them out. Yet “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Of all people God had every reason to be done with us, yet He never wrote us off, up, or out. But instead He did was necessary to write us in – that is in the book of life (Revelation 20:12; 21:27).
Hatred and spite might be the ways of the world, but Christians have got to rise above the world. We have been called to be different, special, unique. That’s true not only in our reaction to sin but in our reaction to all adversity. Love others. Show grace. Be compassionate. Keep Christianity kind.
-Andy Brewer