Everyone seems to have an "opinion" about recent events in our country. Some (in my "opinion") have been based on truth and shown the humility of the author's heart. I was encouraged by reading each of these posts. Unfortunately those have been few and far between. Most posts I have read lean toward debate and argument. These words have demonstrated to me that in the "opinion" of the writer, it was more important to be "right" (not in the political sense, but as opposed to being "wrong"). I do not believe this is Jesus' "way"? There were times He spoke strong words against evil. Many times those statements were pointed toward the religious folk of the day that thought they knew more than they did and were expressing it in such a "way" that sinners were excluded from the gospel. I believe there are two sides to everything for sure. There is the side of righteousness and the side of wickedness. Christians, let us find ourselves on the side of righteousness at ALL times and in every expression. Let that be our "WAY".
To be clear, I am grieved by recent decisions made by our highest court and pray for righteousness to prevail; for blindness to Truth to be lifted; for our national leaders to seek the Word of God as a guide; for people to embrace the Bible without twisting its meaning through some sort of Scriptural gymnastics until it fits their agenda. Mainly I want us to go to a world that needs Jesus and tell them He loves them in the midst of their sin. Our message has not changed all of a sudden. A month ago the message of the gospel was "You are wrong and God loves you". It is the same today.
Everything we say has incredible meaning? Every spoken word is either going to live forever...or die? Kind of a heady thought. We wake up to a new day and a new opportunity to pour ourselves out for God's glory and pour ourselves into those around us for eternal joy. For the sake of this post and based on the first Psalm, last verse, I have been referring to this as our "WAY". Psalm 1:6 tells us: "For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."
I am submitting to you here that it is not only the wicked whose "way "with words will "perish". Social media has been lit up recently with Christ-followers posting thoughts about the godless decisions of the unbelieving world. I pray that we will curb the enthusiasm of our written declarations based on Who we represent. Moderation must be our guide here. How many of us have read in our news feeds the judgmental and condemning phrases of Christians? Words that simply were never a part of Jesus' own vocabulary?
I know it is so easy to think that these things need to be spoken if you are a believer. Otherwise you feel you are giving passive approval to evil deeds and decisions. You know...take a stand against the bad in the world by chiding unbelievers for not being more like Jesus. In reality, We are more likely to drive the world away from a loving God who cares for the sinner...the desperate...the lonely...the bad decision-maker. Our words can "perish" right there on the screen on which they were typed and posted and have no life-bearing eternal impact.
May our every word come from a place of life and love, and land on the listener as a refreshing encouragement. I challenge you to write (or say) something today that gives life to all who read (or hear) it. I pray that these words I have written here will do the same.