Turning on a Dime
Acts
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How am I at this? Do I make it difficult for the gentiles who are turning to God? Paul here says this in a specific context. He is saying it at a meeting of the apostles and elders of the whole church, and they are discussing whether or not Gentiles can even be Christians. They conclude that they could, and that it would be best to not make it to difficult for them. They didn’t even require them to follow the Law of moses with the exception of a few major laws. Three of them are dietary restrictions, and the final one is to abstain from sexual immorality.
One interesting thing that I believe the Lord is showing me here is that this all came after they became Christians and received the Holy Spirit. God was all ready filling and using these guys, even though they didn’t know any better about the sexual immorality. It was all part of their culture. The point is that God saved those who were living wrong. My thought is that as Christians we shouldn’t care at all about how perverse unbelievers are. That’s all part of our culture. When we share the good news with them we should limit it to that…the good news (see my posts from last week for a definition of good news). This is not to say that we trick them into the faith, saying they can do whatever they want, but we need to stop caring so much about how pagans live their lives and worry more about how those who currently are witnesses live their lives. I need a change in my heart in this way.
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Lord help me to be most disgusted by the plank in my own eye. I have a lifetime of my own sins to control and be forgiven of. Let me never confuse the Gospel with the Law, because the two have never coexisted. Let the church grieve deeply for their sins, but for the Lost I pray that you would help me to be not judgmental. Help me to be a better communicator of the Gospel. I want desperately to increase your worship, not necessarily make the world a holier place. I’ll let you take care of that.
posted by Thomas at 10:00 AM
5 Comments:
Right on, Thomas. The application of this really gets sticky when it comes to politics, though. Is it reasonable to expect unbelievers to hold the same moral values as believers?
12:47 PM
I, too noticed this scripture today in my reading. But, I didn't look at applying it to modern life. Thanks for the insight. I pray that it will help change my view of the world as well.
9:42 PM
good word Thomas, well said.
10:47 PM
Ah, the pagans. Those silly, secular pagans. Hey, at least they're not lepers!
If I had overheard someone caling me a "pagan" before I was saved, I probably would have been so turned off to God that it might never have happened. I think that is representative of how a lot of Christians treat the non-Christian world. (I'm not talking about you, Thomas; I know that this site is mainly read by people who are already Christians. Please don't hate me.)
I completely agree with you; I think the most important thing (for me, anyway) is to put myself in the shoes of someone who isn't saved, to think about how I'm coming across. After all, being over-holy scares someone off pretty quickly. (Again, not you, Thomas -- or anyone else, for that matter -- remember, I agree with you!)
I think I'll stop now.
5:44 PM
pagan is kind of a bad word isn't it? By definition it is those who do the kinds of acts that I am describing. The bible describes these people as pagans, but in our time and culture pagan has become the equivlent of calling someone a satanist. I would never call someone a pagan to their face, but I am with you.
7:16 PM
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