I've been a Christian for 16 years and I spent at least half of this time picking myself up from the floor after a fall. But I am glad for all the falls because whenever I would get back on my feet I would discover a God who loved me every time and everywhere I would turn. So I came to know Him as Love, because after you go once through that Bible you come to realize that Love is His nature.
Above all else His Name is Love. "For God so Loved the world..." (John 3:16)
Yes, He is All Powerful and Just and Fair, but when it came to the crossroad of what to do with us- God LOVED the world.
So if our Father is Love and we call ourselves His children (John 1:12-13), how come we came to a day and age when we deal with love as if it is some incomplete mushy cheesy act... How come we have terms such as "my love walk", as if love is somehow separated from my daily walk as a child of God? I thought, that is how the world will know we are His disciples? (John 13:35)
"I love you, but I must speak the truth in love..." which 9 times out of 10 means "I am about to crush you because my opinion of you is far more important than my love for you". The Bible calls Jesus Truth (John 14:6) and Love (1 John 4:8). So if we speak "The truth in Love", if we speak Jesus in Jesus, the effect of Jesus will not be a broken heart and destroyed spirit after we are done talking.
"I love you but I must point to your sin..."
Let me make one thing clear, our Father hates sin. He hates it so badly that He sent His own Son out of LOVE and dumped on Him all sin once and for all. All sin. (1 Peter 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:15)
What motivated God's reaction to sin was His love for us, not His hate of sin. He chose to deal with sin within His own Son and He loved and embraced and loved the sinner to the point that The One who always IS, came up with the concept of forgetting our sins. (Hebrews 8:12)
Considering how much we talk about it and point to it in others, we almost come across as if we love sin and hate the sinner. How do I have the audacity to say that? Because I have "the great joy" of seeing how much people dwell on gossiping and pointing to other people's mistakes, and when they deal with the sinner it is all about "You must repent" rather than "I am here for you."
It saddens me greatly to see that at times other people's sin is akin to a form of entertainment for some of us, because it provides endless supplies of time when we get to judge others and feel righteous.
Zephania 3:17 talks about God gladly loving and "being silent in His love." God doesn't blow His own trumpet when He is doing us good and He doesn't blow the trumpet when He is faced with our sin. God just loves because He knows He already dealt with sin and He knows the plans He has for us (Jeremiah 29:11)- so He just loves us every single day of our lives out of darkness into light.
We read the end of Psalm 23 "goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life..." and we get all excited. But what is the point of goodness and mercy following me, if they only follow me for my benefit and I forget to show them to others?
I am never saying "let's ignore sin when we see it and sing together kumbaya". I am just saying always put yourself in the shoes of the sinner before you do anything. Remember when you were down? Am I right in assuming that what you most desperately wanted was for someone to tell you that it will be ok, that if you just get up and keep going it will be ok? Or that all you wanted was for someone to understand that you already felt guilt and shame and tell you that the gutter will not define you if you will not let it?
"Do unto others what you would have them do to you" (Matthew 7:12) We don't love Jesus because He hit us with a stick about what we did. We love Him because He loved us so much that He willingly stretched His arms on that Cross.
You want to raise up a sinner in love? Then love them, be their friend and build hope in them by pointing to a day when they will be more than shame, guilt and pain. And remember, all judgement achieves is to make one bow their head in shame, but love...Love always wins!
