Lately it seems like the Church is getting split in two directions. (way over simplifying things I will admit) You have the group that says “love.” It’s all about love. Love always wins. Love always has the last word. Love ’em to Jesus. God has called us to love and not judge our neighbor in any way, shape or form. … Then there’s the other group and their stance is holiness. We have been called to be separate and critique our culture, therefore, we’re going to call out sin on every street corner and make sure everyone knows exactly where we stand and what we think on every issue.
And both sides can actually be incredibly arrogant. And both sides judge the other. And both sides claim to be right.
While the world watches in the middle sometimes with amusement and sometimes with disdain. Believe me, I all too often fall on one side myself.
In my opinion, both groups seem to have forgotten a few things.
The essence of Torah is love. When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus Himself declared “love God and love your neighbor as yourself.” Those of us who fall on the holiness scale would do well to remember to love more. To speak with love, to declare the truth in love, to love our neighbor more than we love our standard.
However, there is also a whole chapter in the Bible, Matthew 23, where Jesus is blasting those who are wrong and He sounds anything but loving. He was willing to call sin – sin. And He told people caught in sin to ‘go and sin no more.’ Repentance was the cry of Jesus’ ministry for 3 years and repentance assumes you are wrong and in sin and need to change! Those of us who just want to love and let God handle the issues would do well to remember what true love means – always speaking the truth, no matter how hard or how much it hurts.
I once heard the statement “I’d rather be loving than right.” Well, personally I think that thought is missing the mark bc from what I see and read in Scripture Jesus was always loving and He was also always right. He always spoke the truth. He called sin “sin.” He didn’t water down His message or His words to make things more palatable for His listeners. But it was done from a heart over flowing with love.
May we learn to walk the fine line of pleading for repentance from the world around us while we beg God for mercy on them. May we always speak the truth, and may we always speak it in love.