As I make my rounds as a chaplain, one of the most common comments against Christians that I hear is that most of us are hypocritical jerks. We certainly know how to talk the talk, but few of us really know what it means to walk the walk. Normally I just brush such comments off thinking that these people obviously don’t know the same Christians I do, but lately I’ve been thinking that they might not be that far off. When I see someone living in sin, my gut reaction is to judge first and act mercifully later, yet Jesus calls us to a higher standard as Paul indicates in Romans: “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor” (
Romans 12:9-10). This means we, as followers of Christ, must show our love for each other and the world both in what we say and what we do. We must not only speak with love, truth and justice, we must also act in loving, true and just ways. Otherwise, our words will be lost amidst the volume of our actions. As Micah once said,
“He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God” (
Micah 6:8).
No comments:
Post a Comment