What Bible are you reading?

Ok. Truth talk time. Today I am a little bit upset. This morning I got yet another text linking me to an article about a Christian "leader" of our times being shady in his business and personal dealings. It seems that almost every time I turn on my computer I am slammed with another story about someone claiming to be doing God's work warping the message for their own profit, or using the message as a spear to pierce those they view as different from themselves. For some reason, these leaders wake up everyday and instead of putting on the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness, put on the suit of hypocrisy and the tie of judgement and say it is the same thing. In looking at their brothers and sisters and calling them unworthy, they are not only harming those around them but themselves as well.

When Jesus came he built a great empire with a magnificent building and preached the message that if you came to him, you would be comfortable and prosperous and that you would then have the right to lord the sins of others over their heads while condemning them. Oh...wait...scratch that. He didn't. Yet, all around me I see people who have claimed to speak for me and my ideals, who have platforms that reach more people than I ever will, being unapologetic in their judgement of those around them. I see them passing themselves off as emperors of their own little empires where they breed ideals I can never seem to find in the bible I read. To these leaders, I offer a word of caution. Jesus could have easily come as the conqueror and made himself an empire which knew no bounds, but instead he formed a group of transient people and gave them the message to go spread the message of love. Jesus never had a massive building or 200 programs to make good little christians feel better while excluding the rest of the world; no, he went to the rest of the world and loved them as we are commanded to do.

For the rest of us, we should look at these leaders with caution. They have become this way because there is no one around them who can keep them accountable for their actions. We all need to have friends around us who will speak hard truths to us. When I am not loving those around me, or when I start passing judgement on someone because they are different than I am, I am sinning and I need someone to step up and tell me. We all need that. The Church needs that. We should never need to apologize for our faith or add the caveat "but I'm not like that" when talking to people around us about God and their perception of him. We have allowed the way the world views the Church to become a hindrance to our message. How are people supposed to believe that God will welcome them into the gates of Heaven, when we won't welcome them inside the doors of our churches? I am taking the Romans 14 view to life. (Romans 14) I hope you will take it with me. I hope you can look at the world around you and see that your sovereign God created it ALL and has a purpose for it ALL and wants you to find a way to love ALL his children, not just the ones who look like you. Take back the message of love from those who have warped it and reach out to those who are hurting.