The "church" is so often known today for what it is against - much like the religious leaders of Jesus' day. Although biblically there are things we are "against" or definitely don't condone or support it seems that Jesus' focus was more on what He was for. Jesus seemed to make it pretty clear when He summed up all the law and the prophets with the 2 commands to Love God and Love Others as Yourself what His focus is, what He is "for". All the other laws, rules, regulations and standards are for the purpose of fulfilling those 2 commands.
With that in mind at The Bridge we focus on what God is for - loving Him and loving others. What does that look like? We accept people right where they are - physically, emotionally, spiritually and otherwise. We try to show that acceptance by removing some of the subtle messages sent like wearing suits to church meetings sending the message you have to dress in nice expensive clothes to be accepted. We also challenge our prejudices - how do we treat a heterosexual couple that are living together and sexually active, but then how do we treat a homosexual couple that are in the same situation? Is God more ok with the sins we are ok with and not ok with the sins we are uncomfortable with or even hate? Do we only use the most highly educated and well spoken people to welcome and speak from the stage sending a subtle message to many people they are not good enough?
The great difficulty in all this is how do we help people move forward and grow while still showing acceptance? It is not easy! How do we say "God loves you right where you are, but He wants you to change"? We try by one key difference in that statement - "God loves you right where you are and He wants you to change" and that statement continues with "for the better by His strength bringing out the best in you according to the way you were originally designed!" Our society today has made this difficult because in the church culture and American culture we are starting to think that if you are for me then you are ok with everything I do and if you are against anything I do you are against me. This thought process forces all of us in society to wear masks to try to show we do care - we pretend we accept everything everyone does to prove we accept them. This fakeness is taking a toll on us. It is ok to not accept what someone does yet still accept them. If that is not true then there is no way to train a child up without hating the child until it is in perfect compliance. Unfortunately some people act that way with their kids.
The bible says Heaven's road is straight and narrow and we often take that to mean strictness in obeying rules. At The Bridge we have found it is a straight narrow path that we balance on of following true and accurate biblical theology, teaching the same yet loving and accepting people right where they are. There are several great examples of this done by Jesus in the bible. When He runs into the woman at the well that was living with a boyfriend and had 5 previous husbands He shows what His focus is. He loved her, wanted to help her and was also clear about knowing what the wrong was in her life. Jesus offered to her freely the water of life without compromising the truth of the bible. That is our goal at The Bridge - to lead people to the water of life found in Jesus not by hiding the truth, rather by showing the truth in love.
Will you be better known by what you are against or by what you are for? What subtle messages do you send to people in your life by`what you do? Do people leave a conversation with you knowing you know there is "sin" in their life but still go get others to talk to you because they knew you loved them and had truth in your words?
No comments:
Post a Comment