It's been over a year since I've blogged. What brought me back was a heartbreaking conversation with someone I care very deeply for regarding his faith. I don't have any answers. Only questions.
What do you do with someone who says they're a Christian but then proceeds to live a life opposite of the Christian faith? And then when you call them out on it they proceed to say that their definition of a Christian is their own and different than mine (and the Bible, and the rest of my family)? Didn't Christ himself call out those who were living a life of sin? Didn't Paul write love letters to believers who had lost their way, challenging them to not forget the truth and turn from their wicked ways? Aren't we called to keep our brothers and sisters in Christ accountable to their faith? What if they say they just don't care what I think of how they're living their life? What if they're completely making up their own false religion to fit their own selfish desires? What will it take for them to realize in doing so they aren't living a life of freedom that they "think" they are (and that Christ desires for his children), but instead have allowed themselves to become a slave to their sinful flesh? Don't they understand that we don't get to choose which part of God we want to follow and which part we don't? That in giving your life to Jesus you are sacrificing any rights to yourself which ironically leads to true freedom and eternal life?
How does one like myself, with a Belief strength that motivates everything I do, balance compassion with righteous anger? How do I support someone who I'm supposed to support when I disagree with the way he's living his life? How do I let God's love and grace shine through me when I'm so deeply saddened by the state of this person's life that I've had to put up walls around my heart just to be in the same room?
Oh Jesus. He is yours. You have him and I choose to believe, among my many questions, that you want to redeem his life and and free him for your name's sake. I pray for your will to be done in his life. He needs you more than he knows, but the fear of what it will cost has him frozen. Thaw his heart by your love. And don't let me get in the way!
