Police being shot. African Americans being shot. Women being raped. Terrorist taking mass amounts of innocent lives. People being killed because of who they choose to love.
In a world that is so full of hate, we are called to do more. I know this scripture is long but PLEASE read it, so my article will make sense to you by the end.
"So from now on we regard NO ONE from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
God opens up this scripture by telling us that from now on, from right this very second, right now, we are to regard no one from a worldly point of view. What is a worldly point of view? Black, white, lesbian, faggot, the n-word, retard, hating terrorist, hating the police, and ultimately hatred from one another. The world we live in today is a world full of viewing people from a worldly point of view. I am about to be extremely real and straight to the point, but I think it needs to be said.
As Christians, including all denominations, we are supposed to obey God. If you call yourself a Christian and you view the black men getting shot as not right or wrong but if you view it as validated because African-Americans "commit more crime" or "tend to be more aggressive", then you are disobeying God. If you thought after the gay nightclub was shot, that God allowed that to happen because he says being gay is a sin, then you are disobeying God. If you hate the terrorists that are taking innocent lives, then you are disobeying God. If you hate the men taking innocent police officers lives, then you are disobeying God. If you hate the police because they are the police, then you are disobeying God. If you hate Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, you are disobeying God. If you even hate Obama, you are disobeying God.
The scripture goes on to say that "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them." When I looked up the word reconcile, the first definition that came up was "restore friendly relations between". Now, I understand this scripture is talking about the relationship between God and his people. He reconciled, or restored friendly relationships, the world to himself through Jesus, not counting anyone's sins against them. NOT COUNTING ANYONE'S SINS AGAINST THEM. God did that for us, because he loved you, and I, and the black men, and the white men, and the Asians, and the terrorists, and the police, and all of the presidents and candidates running for office, he loved us so much that he reconciled the world through his son because he wanted to have a relationship that badly with you and I.
You see, we are not here to say what is right or wrong, validated or not, who commits more crime, if the police were right or wrong, or to hate people, we are not on earth to do that. We are here to obey God (that includes obeying the bible!) and ultimately we are here to live a life that is so similar to Jesus it makes people want to live a life like that too. "We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us". God does not see color. He does not see police or civilian. He does not see democrat or republican. He does not see gender or the titles gay or lesbian. God sees us, a person, a sinner who he loves dearly. Shouldn't we learn to strip ourselves of this worldly view so that we can see people the way God sees them?
We, as Christians, are called to do more. We are called to love the way God loves. We are called to take into account our own sin. Yes, you, ma'am, reading this. Yes you, the one cheating on your husband and you sir, yes you, the one who works overtime and has forgotten about his family, oh yeah, and you, 16 year old girl, sneaking out of your house and lying to your parents, and you, the one validating all of the things happening and placing judgment on the people these things are happening to, YOUR sin is just as bad as those terrorist killing innocent people. So let's stop thinking we are above everything going on in the world, because truth is, God sees all sin the same and all sin put Jesus on the cross, so no one is above what is going on in the world.
Let's stop thinking that our Christian label makes us automatically better than the rest of the world and that going to church every Sunday makes us automatically obedient to God and his word . We are called to do more. Stop living a mediocre Christian life. Next time, before you hurl an insult at someone of opposite color, or gossip about how the police officer next-door must feel, or talk badly and poorly of the democratic or republican candidate, or wish all the terrorist would die, think about the reconciliation we have through Christ because God loved us. Think about the way God views the situation, because I bet it will take you would be surprised how opposite the two views were.
Love the world and the people that fill it in such a way that we are spreading Jesus instead of spreading, even more, hate.
