Last night I was talking to a young lady who wanted to, longed to accept Christ but was scared. She didn't want to give Him her all. She was scared she would have to go to church all the time, and be religious and that she wasn't the church type.
Now I know all of you have heard every excuse in the book, but I want to list her objections just to remind you of what the people think of the church and the people in the church. I also know I am getting one side of the issue, but that is all they see, their side.
1."my uncle is a pastor and he judged me for my tattoos, and made me feel ashamed"
2. "people looked down on me so I stopped going because I wasn't good enough"
3. "You mean I got to go to church all the time"
4. "I don't want to give Him my all, I don't know what that means and it scares me"
5. "my aunt tried to make me accept Christ to the point I was shaking and I just wanted to get away from her"
I then talked with her of Jesus. That's it. Just Jesus and His love for her. The fact that He came specifically to this earth and died for her that she might have eternal life.
I talked with her of the nudging she is feeling and that it was God calling her. I also talked with her of the time when He will stop calling her, when He will no longer call and there will be no more chances. she said " you mean He will give up on me?" I said no, but that you have given up on Him and He knows you won't accept Him. I also spoke to her of the final judgment day and how I do not want to see her cast into the lake of fire as I have to watch.
I told her of the woman at the well, the lady caught in adultery and the way He handled that.
Folks, I think that we have battered the world for so long with their sins, and their shortcomings, that we have forgotten the Lord came and was among the people despite what that person had done, who they were, and how they lived. That we have forgotten where we were when He found us. That we have forgotten that the world can not understand Him, for they are in the natural state, until we show, manifest the Love of Christ through our lives to them.
I witnessed of the love of Christ and the sheer joy He brought to me and it was all because He loved me enough to die for me. The God/Man who came among us, healed, loved, cried, sang, lived all for the people, that they might know Him.
I think we may have forgot that the sinner needs to hear of His love, our love and not all about their sins. They, if they are talking to you, know they are a sinner, know they are inadequate. They know they need something just not what they need.
We have forgotten that the Love of God for the whole world was the reason He came and suffered and died. The Love of Jesus IS something wonderful. It is the whole reason He searched and found me.
We preach that we can do nothing to earn salvation, but then that free gift ,so lovingly offered, we turn and tell others they must accept because they are low down dirty rotten sinners. Aren't we all?
Christ never compelled anyone, He asked, He taught and let the people make the choice with out bludgeoning them to death.
He asked them to come to Him, as they are, He didn't tell them to clean up their lives first, or to dress better first, or to do these 12 steps and I will save you. No He said come unto me and I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy.
Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
The woman caught in adultery? He didn't condemn her. He told her to go and sin no more.
The tax collector Matthew? He didn't force him to change before He sat with Him. Matthew wanted to change after meeting the Lord, of his own free will.
The lady at the well? He didn't shun and condemn her for her heritage and lifestyle. She heard the love, felt the love and won her city for Christ.
The love of Jesus, the One who died for them, before they existed, that is what they need to hear.
They need to hear of an Almighty God who loves them and wants a personal relationship with them.
When you take your car to a mechanic, he doesn't ask you to diagnose and tell him what the problem is and fix it before you bring it to him. That is his job.
Our job is not to diagnose, nor shame, or condemn, our job is to be the Light to a lost and dying world.
Not a show off, "look I am Good and Moral and you need to be like me", He didn't say go out and condemn them and shame them into serving.
How very prideful we are in our dealings with the lost world. How very awful we must look to them.
The sin is important, but the soul is more important, for Christ wants each and every person to know Him, personally, relationally, and He will effect the change He wants.
We get them into a conversation and jump so far ahead almost immediately of what they MUST do instead of why; we coerce, cajole, bluster, threaten and really Love is what they need.
I am not trying to convince you of anything here just voicing my opinion, the Church has lost the World because the World thinks we are just judge and jury in our own minds, that we are looking down at them every chance we get.
Christ never cared where you came from, what you looked like, what money you had, what you could do for Him. He cared for the people. Period. End of story.
He went to the lepers, and the Religious elite, He went to the sinner and the righteous. He cared not for what they had done.
Neither should we, we should only care where they are going, in this life and the next. Christ loved the people, the only ones He ever criticized was the righteous, the ones who cared more for their position than the state of the souls of the people.
I think it is time for us to renew our witness.
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