Being Light!

 I am musing about......

Being light!

What is it about the glow of twinkle lights, the ambience of a cozy fire, the uplifting of radiant sunlight, the comfort of an illuminating flashlight, the welcome of a soft light in a window, the aura of romantic candlelight?

It invites us! It pulls us in. And it warms our soul.

The Bible talks a lot about light! 

Jesus is called the "Light of the World" (John 8:12) . His Word is a "light unto our path" (Psalm 119:105). 

We are told to "let our light shine" (Matthew 5:16)!

So how do we best do that?

In many ways, it is a "no brainer". Simply show love, share Truth, live with integrity, show the way.

But here is my question, my dilemma.

How do we draw the sinner? How do we love the sinner, yet hate the sin?

We are told to first establish a relationship. Yes. Well, I do not know about you, but if I am to have an  open and honest relationship with someone, I tend to want to know about their life, what makes them tick, what their joys and sorrows are, what their life situation is.

I want to enter into their world so to speak. To understand their situation. To rejoice with them in their times of rejoicing. To grieve in their times of sadness.

If I  am getting to know someone, I want to know about their family, their lifestyle, what they do for a living, where they live, what they like to do.

So, if someone is living a life that is in outright disobedience to God's Word, how do I handle that? Do I simply ignore that aspect of their life during the time of getting to know them more fully? That would be awkward for me.

Do I ask questions and then just nod in a matter of fact way? 

I am not comfortable with responding in an affirmative manner; with a nice and positive comment. (How often do we respond to someone's comments with "Cool" or "Nice" or  something along that line?) It is our way of acknowledging and validating someone. But what if we are uncomfortable with what they say? What if it makes us sad? If we do not think it is "cool"?

How does God want us to respond?

Do we "owe it to Him as His representative" to reflect His heart? We do! We want to reflect Him well. To be like Him.

So what would He do? 

Write in the sand? Look down? Ignore it (Christ didn't) ? Call out others to "look at themselves"? 

 In the case referenced above the "woman taken in adulatory" was about to be punished; executed. She was in a situation of eminent physical and eternally spiritual danger. Her life was at stake. In that very moment.

Jesus made a point that we all must heed.

None of us are without sin. We should not live with a judgmental attitude towards others. We should walk in great humility, recognizing that "but for the grace of God go I."

But we know that God hates sin! In another instance, Jesus was filled with anger. He called sinners, "Hypocrites", "Whited walls". He "overthrew tables".

Jesus sees what we do not. He sees the heart.

He sees ours.

He knows our motivation. Our desire. Our thoughts and intents.

Are we being motivated by love in all our interactions? Are we allowing a judgmental or "holier then thou" attitude to influence our relationships?

Or is it because of love and a complete desire for someone's spiritual welfare that we find it difficult to engage with someone? Or to know how to?

Do we feel compelled to take a stand against evil for the sake of showing true love?

Is  not true love willing to do the hard thing? To take the hard stand? To claim Truth and call out sin?

To point others to Truth! To not normalize sin.

By normalizing sin, we are, in a sense, not holding someone accountable to God's Truths. 

Am I thinking correctly here? This is hard for me.

The culture has already normalized sin. Sin has become "normal", accepted, okay. Sad, but true.

We live in this culture.

My huge concern is that we as Christians do not get on the same train with the world, the train called "to each his own, just show them love." That train is taking all of it's passengers down a track of destruction and  to a destination of pain and death.

As God's children, we need to be waving the flag, sounding the warning, not "jumping on board".

At times, yes, sin needs to be "called out".

At other times, do we just look past it with the hope and desire that our kindness and compassion, our Christian example, and willingness to create a safe space will pay spiritual dividends in the long run? That the person we love, care about and are reaching out to will sense our Christian love and at some point maybe feel comfortable bringing up the hard stuff with us?

Or better yet, seek out Jesus, partially, just maybe, because of the loving example we showed them?

I would say that that is the hope of many Christians with a heart of outreach.

But the flip side is this.  

As Christians are we allowing fear of man vs God to sway us, to keep us quiet, to keep us from taking a verbal or political stand and risk looking judgmental?

God does not want us to judge a person's eternal situation. But He does call us to be discerning as we apply the Truth of Scripture that "by their fruits you shall know them."

He does want us to stand on His principles; to uphold them, to honor Him by honoring them. To be careful to not normalize or accept in any way those principals that do not align with or maybe are even antithetical to His Word.

We often hear that "sin is sin",  that there is "no difference to God between one sin and another". But I think you would all agree that there is a huge difference to God between " confessed, repented for sin", and "ongoing, blatant, unrepentant sin". And of course, what creates this diversity of response to one's sin, is a personal, true relationship with Christ vs one that is lacking. So once again, this calls us to a heart of evangelism and love for those who do not yet know Him or are turning their back on Him.

How much do we let the Holy Spirit do the drawing and the changing, and how responsible are we to do the pointing and the sharing and the explaining? Quick answer....we are as responsible as the Holy Spirit's direction to our soul. May we "be in tune" to the Spirit with a heart of obedience, humility and grace.

Also, many would point to the fact that Jesus was known to hang out with "publicans and sinners", with social outcasts. We understand His motive was to show them God's love, to establish a relationship, all with their spiritual and eternal health in mind. He loved them and cared about their soul.

The Bible also cautions us to "not walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the way of sinners" (Psalm 1:1). It also says that "I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality, or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler-not even to eat with such a one" (I Cor. 5:11).

So, would it be safe to say, that we need to be listening to and heeding the Spirit in all of our outreaches and relational undertakings? That we need to stay focused on Jesus and allow Him to direct our interactions, and keep the spiritual well being of those we care about and reach out to in mind?

So with this in mind, I pray....

"Dear Lord. Please help us as we navigate this world we live in. Help us as we engage with the culture, as we relate with those, some whom we know personally and love dearly, to be your "hands and feet." Help us to not be hypocritical, help us to uphold what you ask us to. Help us to say and to act in ways that align with your Word. Help us to be willing to share our lives and hearts with those who are in need of You. Help them to see You in us.

Help us in the awkward moments. Help us to know what to say and how to say it. Help us know what not to say, and how not to say it.

Help us to remember, that we all are in need of your grace and strength. That we are all weak, fallible and sinners.

We are thankful and know that what you ask of us, is for our own good. 

So help us to love others well. Permeate us with your love and help us to radiate it to those around us.

Help us Lord...to reflect you well.

Help us Lord, to be LIGHT!!

Amen."