“When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, ‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.'” – John 8:10-11
Stop expecting non-believers to act like believers.
That’s it. That was worth following the link and opening up this blog article.
Okay I will elaborate, but only because this concept is so simple that people shoot right past it without actually comprehending it. The prevalence of social media has certainly exacerbated this problem. Everyone has always had an opinion, but at no other point in history has it been so easy to blurt that opinion to anyone with an Internet connection (which is everyone). While the Internet can be a fantastic tool to spread the Gospel, it is being used far more frequently as a soapbox, for slander, or for a “venting” platform. If this trend were limited to unbelievers that would be one thing, but sadly, it’s not. The amount of pure venom spewing from the “mouths” (or typing fingers) of Christians is alarming. It seems that many of us have forgotten that being kind, courteous, and respectful is what followers of Jesus are called to exemplify. We need some mind renewal about this!
Getting back to the main point, we as Christians need to stop expecting and demanding that people who don’t follow Christ act in a manner consistent with Christians. Not only is this expectation unrealistic, it can seriously hurt our faith. We have the Holy Spirit living within us. If we’re sensitive to the voice of God, He will direct and shape our world views and our consciences. Unbelievers do not have the same convictions, and we seriously need to stop pretending that they do!
Many of the issues of today’s culture: abortion, censorship, freedom of religion, and even the right to bear arms can be looked at through a morality filter or through a filter of humanism and logic. As followers of Christ, we should be counted on to view any issue through a Christian world-view filter. Naturally this explains how most Christians think, believe, and vote. While we are to respect our elected officials regardless of party or affiliation, we should certainly be involved in trying to see Godly men and women put into places of authority. The second part of that statement we seem to have no problem accomplishing, but respecting those in authority? We are failing miserably at this.
It’s a problem all the time, but during election season it becomes almost unbearable. Name-calling, meme making, and general reputation trashing has become the norm. And that is by Christians! I have a wonderful church family that I love dearly, but there are ten or fifteen of them that I have to mute on social media from August to November every year. Mud-slinging and illuminating past mistakes and indiscretions is something we constantly accuse Satan of doing. Revelation 12:10 calls Satan “the accuser of the brethren, who accused them before our God day and night,”. However, over and over again I see believers running down candidates and reposting anything that will besmirch their character. Many of these individuals being torn down in public make no pretense of being Christian. So why are we ripping these people apart for being sinners? Sinners sin. It’s what they do!
Many of us have forgotten where we were before Christ took us out of our mess. God never looked at us as the enemy; only as one who hasn’t decided to live for Him yet. People are not the enemy. People are God’s greatest resource and the only thing on this planet that He loves unconditionally. We have got to stop beating people over the head with scripture that non-Christians don’t believe in in the first place. The word of God is to be used to show people the truth and the light, not to score points off of someone else. Without the grace of God, we are no better! The Bible is very clear about how our righteousness stacks up apart from Him. Roman 10:3 reads, “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one;”. Isaiah 64:6 says, “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;”
Insulting and tearing someone down to make ourselves or someone else look better will always be wrong, no matter who it is. Even if everything we say about someone is factually correct, if we don’t do it in love, we have pasted a large sign reading “VOID” across the entire incident. If God had been dealing with someone and calling them to repentance, our treatment of them can, and in many cases will, drive them away from any affiliation with “those so-called Christians.” So how do we stop this avalanche of hatred and venom that seems to be getting worse every day?
Go to the word. Pray for those who despitefully use us. Pray that God will help us to realize that the same set of moral guidelines don’t exist for the believer and unbeliever alike, and let’s pray that God will use us to help lead them to Christ. Let’s not misuse the word of God and form it into a weapon against people. Let’s not use social media to “defend” ourselves from accusations that ninety percent of the general public hasn’t even heard. Putting someone on blast on Facebook is actually worse than insulting someone to their face because we’re inviting everyone else to eavesdrop on the ugliness. If we get offended or upset, we need to address it and then move on; either with resolution or a parting of the ways, but not with contention and nastiness. We’re called to be better than that. Let’s live our lives above reproach and let our actions speak.