Greater than Justice ...

Equality and justice are not enough.  In an ideology that governs a perfect universe, where love itself is the core abiding principle, merely exacting justice is simply not enough.  Love is greater than equality.  Love is greater than justice.  And forgiveness is greater than justice or vengeance.  Some have judged the character of God as vengeful, or vindictive, looking to visit punishment on those who dare to disobey, or reason differently than God reasons.  They look at the texts within scripture of “an eye for an eye, and a life for a life” as being God’s standard for equal justice under the law.  Texts that proscribe punishments for breaking the law are emphasized behind a rationale that to be fair, God must be just, and therefore the wicked must be punished, and only the righteous protected from suffering.  But this view ignores the very heart of God, and sees only what his enemy would have us see.

When we experience pain, we tend to look for retribution.  If you hit me, I must hit you back.  At least in that sense “fairness” will have won out.  But what if fairness was not the goal?  What if the elimination of hitting altogether was the goal, not just by me, but by you, and the entire world?  What if the true goal was the complete elimination of pain entirely?  How does my hitting you back foster a greater goal?  Justice may be served, fairness may be enacted, but hitting remains, pain remains, and now two hurt instead of one.  There must be an alternative to pain, something better for us to aspire to.  There must be an example of what is better, and why it is better, or our decisions to embrace pain may never change.

When Lucifer first rebelled against God in heaven, perhaps the most often asked question is why God simply did not eliminate him from the universe immediately.  He had the power to do that.  He had a legitimate reason to do that.  It would have been both fair and just.  But God is love, before He is justice.  God is mercy and forgiveness as long as there is hope.  God did not simply want Lucifer to humble himself, admit his error, and return to the throne of grace.  God wanted the entire universe to freely choose love.  Love could not be mandated.  The witness of all intelligent life must be free to see what the alternative to God’s reasoning was, where it would lead, and what would be its result.  Only then could intelligence freely choose love, and in so doing, turn away from pain altogether.  Killing Satan right away, would not have allowed this freewill decision to be reached by those who had not yet had the time to see where alternatives to God would lead.  There would forever have been a question as to whether something different from God, might indeed be better than God.  So to achieve the greater goal of the extinction of all pain, and because love was indeed the core principle within our God, Satan was allowed to pursue his choices.

And the war of ideas came to our world.  Adam and Eve were offered the choice of love by God, and permitted to face his alternatives in the garden.  They chose badly.  Already there had been a war in heaven.  Already the adoption of the ideas of “self first” had yielded a painful harvest.  Now it would be so again in our world.  Justice could simply have left us to our fate.  Equality under the law meant our extinction as a species was chosen at our own hand.  Permanent separation from God was the first result of our embracing the pain and deceit of his enemy, subjugation to Satan was now our lot.  This was at our doing, not part of the plans of God for us.  God did not desire this for us, He did everything He could to avoid this fate for us.  But He could not mandate our choices.  Now what to do?  It would have been easy for us to allow the guilty to suffer their fate – we do it regularly in our society.  We punish the guilty and hold in our own hearts the comfort of enacting justice.  But love is greater than justice, forgiveness greater than pain.  And so hope was offered to us, despite what we had done.

If the Bible were nothing more than a story of punishment or retribution, it need not proceed any farther than the story of Adam and Eve.  They had perfection, were offered a choice, were warned of the consequences, and chose badly.  It could easily have been the end of the story of man, as told by the unfallen angels in the millennia to come.  But it was not the end of the story.  God CHOSE to forgive man, to offer man redemption, even at the cost of His own life.  How does one show what love is?  Love is not shown in exacting justice, but instead returning mercy for hatred.  “Fairness” is not the standard God achieves, instead it is higher than that.  In point of fact, it is not fair, that man is offered an eternity in perfection because of the actions of the Son of God.  It is not fair that we who deserve death are offered life instead.  It is not fair that we who have so wounded the God of love, are given love back instead of what we deserve.  Fairness never seems to enter the equation.  But love does.  Mercy does.  Forgiveness does.  Everything of true value in the ideology of love is offered to us by the God who embodies love.

If our God’s hatred of pain and evil were his overarching personality characteristic, then the story might well have ended at the flood.  Evil had grown so intense, so pervasive, that to witness what man did to man, and what man did to nature was nearly beyond the capacity of God to sit and watch.  Evil was so bad in our hearts, minds, and actions, that it caused God to be “sorry” He had made us.  So why not with a simply flick of the wrist, or speed of thought, wipe man from existence then.  Obviously our choice to embrace pain and sin had yielded a harvest beyond the scope of our imaginations.  The world was nearly as evil as it had ever been, or could be.  But God’s love was greater than His desire to see the world rid of pain.  So instead Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  It was not that Noah was perfect, nor his children, but they still chose to follow God.  For 120 years, Noah would preach to the world of an impending destruction to end the pain God must daily witness.  Had his listeners repented, the flood would have been cancelled as the destruction of Ninevah was cancelled when they listened to Jonah many years later.  Think of it, 120 years more, not a day, or a week, or a year, or even a decade longer, but for 120 years the flood was delayed; patience and time for the world to decide to continue to embrace pain and death, or to escape it.  But only Noah and his family chose to enter the ark. 

Throughout scripture the stories of love, mistakes, forgiveness, and redemption would be illustrated over and over and over again.  Enemies of God would arise, and seek to kill those who chose to serve the Lord.  It would take divine intervention to keep those who served the Lord from immediate destruction.  Fairness was not the standard.  Mercy was.  God attempted to reach every enemy of His and of His people throughout time, but so many would not hear His calls, or accept His mercy.  Even those who claimed to serve Him made mistake after mistake.  But despite our own actions God did not abandon His love for us, or His plans to redeem us.  Even when we, His creations, the object of His love, put Him up on a cross and crucified Him, He remained steadfast determined to redeem us.  The leaders of His own religion that He established would be the chief instigators in His death, yet He did not shy away from His love for us.  Christ defined how far love would go.  It was so much farther than justice, so much farther than fairness, beyond the imaginations of all who witnessed it.  This was the standard to which God ascribes.  This was the fulfillment of salvation to man, and the definition of love to the universe.  On Calvary, Christ illustrated to all intelligent life how far love would go.  And in so doing Satan was defeated.

It was not because Satan was killed at Calvary that he was defeated, but it was because his ideology of pain and hate was fully revealed.  The results of any alternative to love were finally shown for where they would lead, how far they would go.  These ideas stood in striking contrast to the Son of God who laid down His own life to redeem the creations bent on His destruction.  The contrast of love against all other ideas, and love won.  Evil and pain are dead in the universe from Calvary to infinity, not because intelligent life lacks the ability to choose, but because they have made a choice that will not be undone.  Now it only remains for man to see, and choose again as all other life has done.

Creation, followed by roughly 2000 years and the flood, followed by roughly 2000 years and the Messiah, followed by roughly 2000 years and it is we who enter the stage, ready for His second coming.  But the message that must be preached to all the world before He returns, is not one of the impending justice to be enacted.  Instead it is the bright shining alternative to Satan found only in unconditional love.  It is not threats the world needs to hear of the final fires of Hell.  It is the alternative to life of pain, a life of empty self-serving pursuits that can never be satisfied.  It is the reality that separation from God, and from love, is ALREADY the highest form of torture that could exist.  It is worse than dying by flame.  To live without love is to exist in torture.  But because of love, this need not be our fate.  Because of His love, we are offered an escape from pain, and a life worth living.  A life that seeks always to answer the infinite question – how does one show love?  This question will find answer in our every thought and deed for all of eternity.

The Bible then, is a love letter from God.  Our God is not interested in seeing us suffer the justice and fairness we have earned, rather He is interested in seeing us embrace the love He offers us.  His salvation from the pain we embrace is His gift to us.  He charges nothing for it.  He offers it freely.  He makes it easily available.  He does everything to lead us to it, and nothing to hide it from us.  Love is truly greater than justice.  Forgiveness is greater than equality, or vengeance.  Those who know what love is, through the daily submission of the will to Christ, begin to understand why we should turn the other cheek.  Those who begin to see how deeply He loves, and aspire to do the same, begin to wish to participate in His goal, of bringing about an end to all pain.  It becomes less about being fair, and more about reflecting love.  For that love is the character of our God, the reason for our redemption, and the reason for us to choose forever to abandon evil and pain that mark its alternatives.  In this, God achieves His goal forever and pain and death will one day cease to exist.

Relevance and Reality ...

Real life.  Real problems.  Real questions.  Each of us face life everyday confronted by the realities of our situation, our heredity, our genetics, and our choices.  For Christianity to mean something to each of us, it must really mean something.  It must make a difference in our day to day existence.  It must improve our lives or it is not worth espousing.  Relevance; a real impact, making a real difference, seeing real change in us.  For too long, Christianity has been taught as a theory, a lofty ideal set down by forefathers none of us have ever met, in a time when the realities of life were much more simple and less demanding.  “They” never faced a world like we face.  And pastors who merely relay the testimony of the past to a generation in the future find ever dwindling congregations as the “real world” swallows the rote platitudes of well-rehearsed impersonal sermons.  Christianity must be REAL again.  We need to follow the example of Christ and become contemporary, become relevant.

Christ did not come to this world to be served, He came to serve us.  It would have been easy for the King of the Universe to simply accept the willing worship of His subjects, but this was not in His mission, or even in His character.  Christ did nothing to turn away our love and affection, but He also did not sit idly by on a throne of our construction and do nothing more for us.  No, instead if you wanted to spend time with Christ, you had to go where He was, and He was always WITH the people.  You could generally find Christ with those who were more than willing to spend time with Him; the poor, the sick, those in need, those who were outcast by society.  Christ did not turn away the rich who sought Him, but then, not many did.  The religious leaders only sought Him out to monitor his popularity with the people, and to guard their own positions of self-appointed spiritual authority.  Christ got into the dirt.  He walked the dry arid roads.  He drank at the public wells (fountains).  He ate with whoever invited Him to share a meal.  He was out there.  He was involved.  He was real.  He was relevant.

Christ did not sit behind weekly lecterns and give lofty idealistic sermons to show off His deep understanding of scripture.  Instead He used language His listeners could relate to.  He spoke to them in terms they could understand.  He told stories to illustrate His points.  He was patient with them.  He was careful with them.  He was love incarnate.  His messages were meant for a singular purpose, the redemption of His listener.  Every story, every counsel, every blessing, every prayer, all designed to bring His listener to the throne of grace to receive the wonderful gift He and His Father were offering us.  He brought us a freedom from sin we could never know on our own.  He was and is our Savior.  He made His words cut to the soul of man, deep in our inner core, to touch that image of His that lies within us all.  The problems His listeners faced, the issues and debates they considered, Christ had an answer for all of them.  He did not run from questions, He answered them.  He did not shy from interaction He sought it out.  His messages were not designed to bring glory to His own speaking ability, but to move the hearts of man to redemption.

A young man hooked on drugs could argue that Jesus never faced what He must face every day.  How can the church offer a repeated drug addict something more?  What does Christianity say?  Get a job?  Get your act together.  Find help.  Get clean.  Just say no.  How do we make Christianity real for the hard core addict, who seems not even to want to be different?  Christ faced this very situation.  No, I doubt He encountered a heroin or cocaine addict as such.  But He did encounter several who were demonically possessed.  Unable to control themselves, they would cut their own flesh, curse those who happened near, and attack any innocents they encountered.  These people had no more control over themselves than the drug addicts of today do.  They could make no “good” decisions.  Their minds were as warped by the demons within them, as are the drug addicts of our day whose minds have equally been warped by the chemicals they routinely ingest.  What do both have in common? - An absolute need of Christ, who ALONE can change not only their actions, but the desires behind their actions.  The drug addict can no more fix himself, than the demoniac of old.  They are both powerless to simply stop or say no.  They both need a creator.  They both need the singular God who ALONE can restore what NO ONE else can restore within them.  There is a message for the drug addict of today – Jesus CAN make you whole, and He wants to, and He will – will you let Him?

But then a message about the power of Christ is intimidating to some Christians.  “What if it doesn’t work?”  This nagging question lies at the root of all doubt.  But what good is a God who is unable to deliver on the promises He commits to?  What is it we call faith, if when faith is put to the test, we worry about the reality of our God?  How could a follower of the God of love believe that their God would actually desire a person to remain in slavery to drugs that warp the mind, and ruin the body?  No, it is the desire of God to free every single addict, as He once healed every single sick person in each town or village He came across.  None left behind.  None left to suffer.  All healed.  And every single drug addict we encounter in our world today can take hope in the fact that Jesus healed em all.  Jesus loved them all.  There was no one so far gone, that Jesus could not bring them back to life – even the dead.  Nothing was or is beyond the reach of our God’s love and desire to redeem.  We need not pray with timidity to find cures and fixes for the lost souls who wander in darkness.  It is time for them to see a great light revealed in our world, in our prayers, and in our actions steeped in love.

A pregnant girl, whose weakness now seems to threaten all her hopes and dreams.  A young couple whose ideas of marriage have hit the skids as real life is altering their perceptions of what should be.  A middle aged man who fears the next trip to the doctor’s office because he might hear the scariest words in the English language.  The unemployed, the poor, the downtrodden, the lonely; all those who feel the pain of the world in which we live.  He reached out to them all.  Christ had a message for each of them, and He still does.  Our lives can be better when we let Him change the core of WHO we are.  Our lives can begin to improve as we surrender our need to control, and learn that we can ALWAYS depend on Him no matter what we face.  Some things He will remove from us, some He will walk through with us, some we will never even know were headed our way.  But each day can be better, as we allow Christ the freedom to renew and recreate in us what must be recreated.  The pregnant girl can find redemption no matter her past, and strength to meet each day as it comes.  She is truly NOT alone, as Christ is with her every second.  The failing marriage can find a renewal of love steeped in sacrifice that inspires even more love from the partners.  The man whose health is in question can find not only healing of body, but peace of mind, hope in what lies beyond this mortal coil, and meaning in every day he lives between now and whatever end may come his way.  For we are all dying, it is only a matter of how and when.  Those in misery can find REAL relief, as each life sheds the evil and pain that comes with it.  Each and every life can be better because of what Christ does within us.

The Bible is a love letter from God to man.  Every story should be adapted to be useful in our current day to day lives.  Every precept, principle, and example both good and bad, should be used to offer real solutions to the questions put forward now.  The Bible is NOT a historical manual designed only to teach us where we come from and what we have gone through to get here.  The Bible is NOT a prophetic road map designed to show us where we are heading and provide us with a blow by blow description of every event that will occur until the return of our Lord.  Both the past and future are present in scripture, but scripture remains a LOVE letter from God to man.  Absent love, it is absent relevance.  Absent Christ, it is absent meaning.  Absent redemption, facts are useless.  Every prophecy was designed to show us the love of God.  Every event in our history, every miracle, every story was designed to illustrate to us in the real lives of the participants involved, the immediate love of God in action.  The same God who blessed Jacob, Joseph, and Solomon will bless us today.  The same God who worked through Esther to save a nation may work through you to do the same today.  The same God who trained Moses for 40 years tending sheep, may have similar ideas for you as well.  Each story was designed to show how God yearns to redeem each of us.

To find the relevance in the scripture for the lives we live, take a careful look at the villains in the stories.  God is tender with every single one.  He works with all of them.  He tries desperately to reach out to Cain, Pharoah, Esau, Saul, Ahab, Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, the Pharisees, even Herod.   Their stories are recorded to show us that we have the ability to reject the love of God.  But they also remind us that each of us is offered the love of God.  Any one of them could have had an entirely different story if they were willing to repent, and submit to the love God offered.  The deliverance of the children of Israel was not needed in the lifetime of Joseph.  It could have been restored by the conversion of Pharoah to the worship of the true God.  Egypt might have remained the strongest nation on planet earth for years to come, had Pharoah abandoned his ideas about being equal to God.  The Pharisees could have had their positions of leaders of God’s religion restored had they simply acknowledged Christ as the Messiah.  The Romans or others under the influence of Satan would have surely fulfilled the prophecies of the death of Christ, it did not need to be the Pharisees behind it.  But alas, the villains are villains because they would not accept the love of God.

If the message of Christianity is to become relevant to the world again, as it was in the time of Christ, it must become relevant in the lives of its followers.  We can no longer espouse words, we must inspire observation.  Christianity must become a movement of real change and real difference in the real followers of Christ.  The new sermon is the sermon of example.  The new testimony is the testimony of action.  Christianity must be seen in us, the working of Christ in our hearts, attitudes, and lives.  If we are not the example of the removal of pain, then what is the point of our words?  Real hope is not found in self-discovery, self-enlightenment, and self-awareness – it is found in the death of self, and surrender to Christ.  A real relief from pain is found when God is allowed to change in us what must be changed, and what we have been wholly unable to change.  This is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of relevance, and the beginning of relief.  It must be lived to be understood.

Love is Everything ...

Perhaps the single biggest “proof” that God exists, is that love exists.  Love runs counter intuitive to survival of the fittest, or even self-preservation.  Love is more than instinct, more than emotional response, more than a feeling or chemical reaction in our brains.  Love is a choice.  Love is about prioritizing the life of someone else above even your own.  Love is defined in the giving.  It is impossible to measure the limits of love, for even when you think you know what they are, you find they can still be exceeded.  There are no laws to limit or regulate how much a person can love another, laws exist only to limit our actions that come from a lack of love.  John wrote … “For God so loved the world” these immoral words define the reason we exist, the reason why love is greater than justice, the reason why forgiveness is greater than revenge, and the reason why there is hope beyond this mere mortal existence.  Truly love is everything.

There are those who dream of wealth and the ease, comforts, and beauty it could bring to their lives.  But all the comforts of wealth are really only worth experiencing if they can be shared.  Isolation, even if in grandeur is not nearly as fulfilling.  We eat a fantastic meal, and the experience is better if there is someone we can share it with.  The more we care about the company we keep with us, the more the events have meaning and fulfillment.  The best beach in the world is better with someone you love.  The finest meal, the most elegant play, whatever the event – it gains meaning only so much as it can be shared.  And though we may desire ease and comfort, it is actually the sharing that brings what is true meaning to our lives and existence.  Wealth means little without love.  But love can mean everything even without wealth.

There are those who dream of fame and popularity, they crave the adoration of people they have never even met.  Yet fame does not offer real love.  Admiration is not the same thing as intimacy.  We may admire celebrities, want to have our pictures taken with them, or get an autograph, or have a brief exchange.  But the motives of the masses are not about how to show love to those we call celebrity.  They are more about bragging rights with our friends.  They are more about serving the ego of the non-celebrity by being close to those many admire.  We rarely are interested in friendships with celebrities for the purposes of what we might do for them, but rather what we might gain from the relationships.  This is not love, it is merely another form of greed.  Those with great fame are usually not the objects of selfless acts of kindness and charity, instead they are expected to show those acts to those who only seek them out for it.  Fame then, is empty.  It offers nothing but the questionable motives of those who seek proximity for reasons largely based on self-interest.  Adoration is not love.  But love is everything.

Our God showed us what love is, before we knew who He was.  Our God loved us, before we could even consider loving Him.  Our God loved us when some of us called ourselves His enemy.  Our God loved first, last, and most.  We come to our God because of His love and for no other reason.  Fear will not long compel anyone to do anything.  People have “close calls” in matters of health, or behavior, and may modify their actions for a short while, but it rarely lasts.  Imminent consequences or fear of those consequences will motivate short term change, but can do nothing to hold it in place.  But love, the kind of love that Christ brings to the human heart that is willing to accept it; that kind of love is life altering.  God’s love will change your perceptions.  God’s love will alter your thinking, your desires, and your actions.  God’s love is transformational and constantly adding even more value to your existence.  God is love, and love is everything.

To imagine the cosmos sprung into existence; that a periodic table of inanimate elements suddenly congealed in a way we have been unable to replicate, and life was born.  To imagine that life grew and evolved into the series of species we have around us, absent design, absent intent; offers no explanation for the existence of love.   More than the chemical attraction between two people, why does a mother protect her child at her own expense?  The need to propagate a species implies a willingness to sacrifice the needs of the individual for those of the collective.  Yet this is rarely found in human behavior.  Why should a mother do anything to care for or nurture her child?  We call it instinct.  But how does instinct cover the life-long sacrifices a mother makes for her child well after they are capable of caring for themselves.  How can we call instinct, the willful choice of a mother to sacrifice her own interests for the sake of her child?  Willful sacrifice for the well-being of another is the base definition of love.  The life of a woman who is devoid of love, would be better served to ignore having children.  Devoid of the intimacy that develops between mother and child, the mere physical discomforts of pregnancy outweigh the results – absent love.  But as love is something whose origins cannot be traced, and whose limits cannot be measured, yet we find it within us – so a mother comes to love a life she has never even met,  as God loves us, even before we knew who He was.

One makes a choice to love.  Beyond the pheromones that attract a mate, comes the choice to become monogamous and intimate with a person of our choosing.  A life is dedicated to another.  A life is spent shared with another.  And there is no regret in the lives and loves of those who choose to give 100% to another without thought of what it is in for them.  Reciprocated love, based on a choice, becomes even more powerful and profound over time.  It is our decisions to abandon love that bring us pain in our lives.  It is love unreturned that aches at our hearts and makes us miserable.  It is the opposite of love that is everything we do not want.  Where love is all we want, all we need.  As we pass on, our lives are measured by the love we leave behind.  Many grieve for the one who loved greatly, few for the one who loved sparingly.  Indeed the measure of our existence is found in our love.  We are the reflection of our creator.  We are made in His image, the image of love.  Love is a part of us, because we are a part of our Creator.  He loved us so greatly He was willing to forego His own life, to redeem ours.  The universe will forever marvel at this example of just how far love will go.  He did not do this great act of redemption for Himself, He did it for the object of His love – He did it for us.  It was His choice to love us.  It was a choice He has made, and never faltered from.

If we are to know eternal life, we must know Christ, for He is eternal life.  He is love.  His work, His ministry, His miracles, His words – were a constant source of redemptive love.  More than justice, more than doctrine, more than ideology, more than ancestral heritage, He was love to the world.  If we are to bring Christ back into Christianity, it must begin and end with how we love.  We must allow Him to fill us with His love.  We must let Him teach us how to love like He loves.  We must give up our own ideas about love and instead let His love control our very thoughts, our motives, our desires, and our actions.  We must become one with Him, but submitting our will to His control, and His reform.  Love does not originate in us, it is reflected through us.  We are not the source of love, we are its image.  As we allow God, we allow love.  As we restrict God, we restrict love.  He is love, the source of all love, a never ending fountain whose limits cannot be measured.  God is love.  And love is everything.

Killing the Critics ...

There are many who have a horrible picture of God, and even worse of the Bible.  It would be easy to assume they are all outside of the church, but such is not always the case.  Critics are alive and well and ever present in online forums, social gatherings, and even inside church business meetings or board meetings.  Those who criticize from outside the church are taught to do so, by the encounters they have had with those who profess the name of Christ.  The critics within do an excellent job of training the critics without.  How do those who bear the name of Christ undo the damage that has been done by those who believe it is their duty to point out the flaws - in everything?

When one examines the ministry of Christ, we always find Him focused on the redemption of all He encounters.  Christ does not center his conversations on what is wrong with His listener, only how His listener could escape the pain they carry.  Mary Magdalene was guilty of far more than adultery when she was cast at the Savior’s feet.  Christ could have enumerated all the sins He knew she had committed over her lifetime.  He did not.  Nor did He call attention to each of the sins in the lives of those who were picking up the stones to end her life.  With a simple but piercing gaze into the eyes of the angry mob, He gently reminded them that they too were equally guilty and deserving of death, or more importantly of the mercy He was extending to Mary.  Christ was not trying to excuse Mary, or proclaim her innocence.  He was trying to free her from the pain she had chosen to embrace.  This is the very nature of redemption, not provide an excuse for evil, but an escape from evil.  And in this work, Christ was decidedly NOT a critic.  Instead He uses the power of positive reinforcement, blessing her, freeing her, and saying … “go, and sin no more.”  Forget what you have done and embrace the freedom from pain He offers to her.  Do not focus on your sins or your past or the hundred other things she had done wrong – instead be free, and focus on the freedom only Christ could bring.

Criticism does not bring reform.  But the hope and love Christ offered brought about change.  When Christ encounters the Samaritan woman at the well, he again gets her excited about what He has to offer her – a living water, a freedom she has never known.  He does not focus on all the woman’s sins or faults.  He mentions her social history only to reveal to her that He knows her as a person, cares about her as a person, is interested in freeing this particular woman from the pain she has known in her own life.  She becomes so excited she is compelled to go back to her town, and bring with her everyone who knows her to hear “this prophet who revealed the secrets of her life”.  She is not content to hear His message of freedom alone, but rather wants the entire town to come to Him.  Had Christ been a critic with divine knowledge about her life and sins and focused only on her faults, she would have wanted to hide herself from Him, and never let Him speak of her long list of evils in front of the entire village.  Instead, Christ does not center His encounter with her on what she may have done wrong, but on how she can be freed from the pain of evil.  This freedom, this hope, this love is what she is compelled to share with everyone she knew.  Christ brings reform, criticism accomplishes nothing.

Yet somehow over the years “Christian” has become synonymous more with “critic” than with “Christ”.  Too often Christians focus on what is wrong with the world around them, and more specifically with the people they encounter, than on the hope the Christ brings to escape the pain of evil that plagues our souls.  When an outsider looks at a Christian for the first time, they mark whether they see a person who loves them unconditionally, much like our Lord – or someone who seems to think their sole mission is to point out every flaw, every shortcoming, every sin that might be preventing them from “finding God”. 

As when Christ encountered Mary, there was no question that the crowd was right, she was guilty.  But the lesson is not about judging the guilty, it is about reforming a life from guilty to one that is not slave to the pain that evil brings.  So too, when we encounter the sinners that surround us in the world, it is not our mission to focus and call attention to the obvious evils they commit – but to point them to a God who loves them SO much He was willing to die to heal them.  People avoid criticism, but are drawn to love.  If we are to represent Christ, we must be a picture of unconditional love.  Proving that we actually do love the sinner, despite his sin; for our Lord loves us despite the evil we continue to cling to.  Our mission is not to “fix” people, we are incapable of that.  Our mission is to point people to the source of all love and let Him “fix” them, as He does with us.

Christ does not discriminate against “some” of His children, choosing not to love them because of a particular evil they commit.  Instead He loves ALL of His children, despite the condition they find themselves in, despite the sin and pain they have chosen to embrace.  He longs to free ALL of those He loves from the pain in their lives.  He wants ALL to come to Him; age is no barrier, sex is no barrier, race is no barrier, even our sin is no barrier to come to the Lord of Lords.  He did not ask anyone He encountered to go become blameless and give up certain vices before they could be with Him.  He knows that is not something humans can do.  Instead He bids us all to come to Him.  He knows when we do we find rest.  Only when we come to Him can we find the peace, the hope, and the change we ALL so desperately need.  In this He presents an infallible picture of unconditional love.  How can Christians then, those who bear His name, love others any less?  How can we claim the name of Christ and then totally reverse His ministry from one of hope, to one of condemnation and fear.

Notice that Christ never once threatened any of His listeners with eternal Hellfire and damnation if they did not choose to believe in Him.  His ministry was not one based on … “you better or else”.  The Beatitudes are not followed by ten curses to those who refuse to embrace Him.  Yes, on occasion Christ warned His listeners about the dangers of disobedience (mostly to those who thought themselves the religious leaders of the day); but even then it was always couched in an appeal of love.  Christ’s evangelism was not based on the soon coming end of the world, the last plagues, persecution, torment, and the evils of going to hell for our sins.  He did not preach long sermons designed to scare people into submission to an all-powerful vengeful God.  That is not who He was.  That is not who His Father is.  Instead, He presents the perfect picture of love, acceptance, and freedom from the pain of evil.  The Bible is not written to show the justice of God in condemning the evil ones, it is written to show the mercy of God to those who do not deserve it.  We are the beneficiaries of His love, His mercy, and His sacrifice.  We receive it as a gift, unearned.  He needs no fear to motivate us.  He has something considerably better to offer than merely an escape from fear.  He has a real alternative to the pain of slavery in serving only one’s self.

Christ does not need fear to transform His listeners.  He does not criticize to reform.  He loves.  He genuinely loves, each person, each encounter is one designed to redeem.  Christ knew the mind of Judas.  He knew that Judas was skimming from the collection plates.  He knew that Judas would betray Him.  He knew what would become of Judas.  So why not reveal him?  Wouldn’t you?  Why tolerate a known traitor in your midst?  But Christ did.  Not just to fulfill some prophecy written centuries earlier, or not because He intended to provide Judas with false intel to give the Pharisees.  He allowed Judas to be one of the twelve, because He desperately wanted to save Judas from himself.  He hoped that close-up, constant exposure to love might reach into the heart of Judas and reform him. 

But to do this, Judas must be willing.  Judas thought he knew better what the mission of Christ should be, and while he believed in the divinity of Christ, he never imagined that one who had such power would not use it to free himself from certain death.  Judas never accepted the freedom Christ offered, yet that did not ever give Christ an occasion to criticize Judas, and point out his every fault.  Christ did not try to frighten Judas into reform.  He did not tell Judas that what he was doing, and how he was thinking, might lead him to the very gates of hell.  Instead, He was patient and loving with Judas.  He accepted Judas as one of His own.  Judas was a member of the 12.  He could have had his name written on one of the gates of Heaven itself.  He could have been a mighty leader of the early Christian church.  But Judas would not have it.  And Christ never changed his approach with Judas, no matter what Judas did or said.  Christ only ever showed him love and acceptance.

If criticism is to end within the Christian church it must first end inside of me.  I must look in the mirror and confess to my Lord that my heart is one full of critique and empty of love.  I must ask the Lord to change how I speak, how I love, and how I communicate with others.   I must find a way to focus on what is good, and allow Christ to fix what is not.  I must become an encourager of the faith, and an unfailing reflection of His love through me to those I encounter.  I must love those who are hard to love.  I must remember not to respond to criticism with barbs of my own.  Instead I must return love for insults, love for hate, love for dislike, love for apathy, love for greed.  Whatever is thrown at me by those I meet, whether inside or outside the church walls, I must only ever return love. 

This is what my Savior did.  This is how Christ ministered.  He was not obsessed with a list of woes.  He was laser focused on how to redeem people with love.  He wanted to reconcile ALL of us to His Father, not just the ones struggling with “certain pre-approved sins”, but everyone, no matter what their particular sin was.  He did not care about the belief systems a person held to be valid, He knew He would have to help them see truth.  But we can only see truth AFTER we come to Christ, not before it.  He knew it might take years to help us believers find the truth we ignore thinking we know better – like Judas.  But He does not give up on us.  Therefore let us not give up on each other, and let us find His strength in our hearts, to destroy any shred of criticism that might remain.  And perhaps then redefine “Christian” to be synonymous with “unconditional acceptance” rather than “critic”.

Christian Rock Music ...

The greatest day in a person’s life is the day they accept the gift of salvation from our Lord Jesus Christ.  On this day they begin a journey that leads them into perfection of mind, body, and soul.  It begins here and reaches fulfillment in the heaven we all so long to see.  As we submit ourselves to Christ, He changes how we think, what we want, and therefore what we do.  We come into harmony with God, and begin to learn how to love like He loves.  This is the power of the gospel.  This is the reason why love conquers all, even death.  This is the only ideology where a God works so hard to redeem the erring creation that sometimes fights Him as an enemy.  Our God indeed loved us while we were yet His enemy.  As we allow Him to recreate in us a new heart, a new mind, and eventually a new body, we begin to escape the pain of self-inflicted evil that we were once enslaved to.  The greatest day in a person’s life is the day they come to accept our Lord.

So it stands to reason, that for the devil to have a chance at winning the fight against love, he must do everything he can to keep people away from a decision to accept Jesus Christ.  He must keep them too busy, too skeptical, too disoriented, too distracted – anything he can use to avoid a call that might lead one lost soul to the throne of grace.  Once a lost soul accepts the gift of faith granted by Christ, the devil will forevermore be fighting a losing battle.  Anything that would point a lost soul to Christ, is something that is sure to meet with the intensity of hate as nothing else on planet earth can warrant.  For it is nearly impossible to pluck one dear person from the protecting hand of our Father God.  Our God is jealous to protect His own, and faithful to save us to the uttermost.  The devil knows this, he has lost too many souls to the simple love of God.  So he must spend his energy warring against the witness of a changed life.

How then does a lost soul come to find the Lord, when the devil is so determined to keep them away from the source of all salvation?  Perhaps the most common method is the personal testimony of a caring friend or family member who has experienced it firsthand and can tell of the saving power of Christ to take pain away from our lives.  When Andrew found Christ, He quickly went to call his brother Simon Peter to let him know the good news.  Even today when Christ actually saves you from a sin which you had no power over, and brings you victory you did not deserve but were given anyway – the freedom from pain this brings is enormous and MUST be shared.  So today the power of personal testimony has not lost its edge, we still desire to share the good news we have found with those we care about.

Sometimes however, a lost soul is not fortunate enough to have a close friend who has personally experienced salvation and can tell them firsthand what it means.  In these situations, God must rely on other means to reach the children He so desperately wants to save.  As our eyes and ears are bombarded everyday with stimuli from Internet screens to TV; from iPods and satellite radio to cell phones and twitter updates; we process information and try to make sense of it all.  Satan uses this to keep us occupied, but God uses this as well to slip in references to His word, and His love.  It comes as television programming dedicated to spreading the word.  It comes as internet sites dedicated to ministry of Christ.  It comes over the radio waves as music from every sub-genre and style popular today, but by musicians dedicated to the cause of Christ and with lyrics designed to uplift one to the throne of grace.  Messages to the masses, hoping that just once, the long lost child of God will pay attention and be drawn to the source of all love.

It really does not matter so much “which” message a person hears that leads them to Christ.  It is enough that they are led to Christ.  All of us find God with many erroneous ideas, many mistaken assumptions, and thinking that has long been corrupted by evil.  It takes time for God to undo in us what must be undone.  It takes time for Him to show us how to let go of pain, and our erring ideologies, and allow Him to lead us to truth.  But the journey cannot begin until we decide to begin it.  That greatest day must occur before growth can occur.  That greatest day must occur, before we have a chance to find deeper truth, and an even better definition of love than we thought possible.  Should we as Christians really care, if a person finds God through the sermons of Billy Graham, or Oral Roberts, or the Pope, as long as they find Christ?  Does it really matter “which” Christian musician inspires them to seek the Lord of Love, so long as they seek Jesus?  Do we care which internet site it was that led a person to a knowledge of Christ, if that knowledge begins their journey?

Too often Christians set expectations for new converts too high.  It is not enough to merely find Jesus, one must find Him in the proper way, using the proper doctrine, and be completely devoid of even the appearance of incomplete truth.  Yet none of us has complete truth if we were honest.  Our own limitations keep us from it.  Truth, like salvation from evil, is a process.  It has a beginning and a fulfillment.  It is a journey.  And what we can completely rest assured in, is that our God desires ONLY to save us.  He will not lead us into error as we move forward with Him.  He will not lead us to slaughter, but to truth.  Our Shepherd does not allow His flock to go astray, He leads them beside the still waters and restores our souls.  Restoration of that which is corrupted by evil to the state of perfection He intended.  But He does not do this in the blink of an eye.  And He does not expect us to wait to come to Him until we are sure that we know it all first.  He expects us to be ignorant, mistaken, and full of woe.  He knows our condition.  It is not a secret from Him.  But to fix us, our journey must have a beginning.  It matters little if the vehicle that brings us to Christ is a perfect one, it only matters that it gets us started.

The tendency of a Christian to believe their version of truth is the best one around, or their version of worship style is the only one acceptable to God is too great in our world.  Thus we fall into the trap of ridicule over ministries not of our own designs.  We disparage musicians who play a style of Christian music we do not personally equate to, particularly if it is similar to music that is not designed to uplift one to God.  We are not happy about the ministry of other denominations, fearing that “they” are leading people astray while only “we” have the right take on how to get to know Christ.  The problem with all this thinking is that it is “me” centric instead of Christ centric.  We forget that it is Christ who leads the captive soul to truth, not me.  We forget it is only Christ who can remove a sin from someone, no matter what I do or say, only Christ can actually bring someone a change of mind and heart.  We forget that Christ has more of an interest in saving a person than we ever will, no matter what our relationship is with that person.  In short we take our eyes off of Christ, use our own judgment, and begin to condemn what should have never been condemned.

Consider the alternative; would it be better that a person never came to accept Jesus Christ, than for them to be introduced to salvation by a Christian Rock artist, or Christian Rap artist, or a Christian poet or actor, or a Christian pastor of another denomination or faith?  Is it better to see a person denied the freedom and truth that Christ would lead them to, because WE do not approve of the tool used to bring them to Christ in the first place?  Better for darkness to reign, than to give the light a chance to break through; surely not.  I would rather walk down the streets of gold and find you there no matter how you first met Christ, than to debate with you if that method should have ever existed in the first place.  The devil has ZERO interest in seeing people led to Christ.  No matter what we think about the style, or completeness of truth of the vehicle that leads one to Christ – at least the person will have a chance at salvation because of it.  There is only one Jesus Christ.  There is only one decision that matters.  And there is only one result that occurs when a person surrenders to Jesus, they are saved from evil – all evil – in every form.  Truth will out.  People will change.  But it must all start somewhere.

The only appropriate response to a lost soul who finds redemption in Christ is one of exceedingly great joy.  The angels rejoice in heaven for even one soul, think of it, just one is precious.  Those heavenly beings who know how to love in perfection understand the value of even one soul who finds his/her way to Christ.  It is the greatest day of that person’s life, and will be followed by greater and greater days as the grace of Lord is revealed in them.  If heaven rejoices, how can we begrudge?  If angels sing, how can we condemn?  It is more revealing a portrait of those who can criticize a person for the method in which they found Christ, than it is the object of their criticism.  Love understands that truth and change come over time.  Love does not expect perfection first, but instead sees it occur over a distance.  It is a metamorphosis that occurs because of the proximity to Jesus Christ.  And for each of us, our story has a beginning.  Let us rejoice the end of our journey is the perfection God intends, and rejoice that any method that works, helped a lost soul reach the Lord.

Handling Adversity ...

“Onward Christian soldiers …” - Imagine an army that was not required to follow orders, and could at will completely ignore the chain of command; or how about a business where the threat of discipline or consequences was wholly absent from the HR policy of the company.  Soldiers could feel free to do as they please even in times of war; similarly company employees could choose to work or not work as they saw fit.  How long would you expect either of these organizations to survive?  Minutes perhaps.  Yet the church functions exactly in this fashion.  The church is a wholly volunteer organization where members can do pretty much as they please.  The only “threat” that can ever be imposed is dis-fellowship, and as the number of other churches is so plentiful, this really only translates into moving a mile or two down the road to the next group meeting place.  So how can any group like this ever survive?

Of course the goals are different for a church.  Where armies or businesses can expel those who do not fall into line, a church has the goal of retaining EVERY single person, regardless of their performance.  A church has the goal to keep even the “problem people”, in fact churches are supposed to specialize in attracting and retaining the “problem people”.  Each soul is precious to the Lord, therefore each member of His church is precious and cannot be expelled for merely being obnoxious, offensive, ill-tempered, foul mouthed, impatient, imperfect … the list continues.  And this description does not merely apply to new converts who are young in the faith, and perhaps still carrying the baggage of their former weaknesses into the sanctuary.  No, the list of faults more often applies to members who are known to have been in the ranks for years, sometimes decades, and still come across in this way.  These even more “experienced” Christians can often test the patience … well of everyone they encounter.

So how do we handle the adversity that is bound to come from people with differing ideas, differing interpretations of duty or doctrine, or who simply appear to be combative in nature always spoiling for a good fight?  How do we maintain the goal of inclusion when controversy will surely give cause to thin the ranks?  This is perhaps the most difficult problem a Christian will face, not how to reach those who are ignorant in the Word, but to reach those who are fluent in it.  While the goals of a church are for inclusion and thus very different from the world, the problems that arise between people are all too similar.  Two equally paired executives argue about a strategy to move a company forward, each believes firmly in their own ideas, and each believes firmly the opposing ideas are bad.  When facts have been exhausted, ego will gladly maintain the dispute.  A personal surety, a personal certainty, these ideas are prevalent in the business mind driven for success and without the ability to consider the idea that “I might be wrong”, I am destined for conflict.  It is the same within the church.

Those seasoned Christians with years under their belts, sometimes fall into the idea that their experience makes them “better” Christians.  It is easy to believe that the amount of study one has invested in doctrine makes them “more” knowledgeable on these topics.  The time spent in the pews listening to many pastors, studying in many groups, reading many books – these things are designed to improve the Christian experience and over time can lead one to believe it makes them “better” understand the ideas in question.  To think that a brand new convert might have something new, relevant, and perhaps even deeper to offer on a truth long taught in the ranks is considered nearly impossible.  New converts then are supposed to talk less, listen more, and take their cues from the seasoned members of a church.  As humility lessens so does the ability to learn anything new.  As humility lessens, the ego, even an ego that is centered in a knowledge of Christ and scripture, can grow to the point where it is comfortable seeing itself as “an authority” on spiritual matters.

Thus conflict between Christians with similar years of experience, but differing ideas on doctrines or policies, is bound to occur.  It is not a new phenomenon.  Instead of sharing their enlightenment with all the nations around them, the children of Israel walled themselves off and attempted to only promote ideas from within.  But even this failed as two prominent religious groups emerged in the time of Christ, the Pharisees and Sadducees who disagreed violently over the ideas of resurrection.  Within the early Christian church, there was a disagreement over John Mark that led to a split between Paul and Barnabas.  In later protestant churches divisions have arisen over various doctrines that lead to the fragmentation of churches and the foundation of yet another Christian denominational church.  Religious people have an equally embarrassing history of arguing over ideas to the point of segregation.  Not exactly the unity our Lord prayed for.

So recognizing that our human condition has led us in the past into conflicts, how can we use what we know now, to avoid it in future, or to handle it differently when it occurs?  First, we must keep our priorities straight, and our goals in the forefront of our minds.  The goal of our church is inclusion, not the forced change of another’s opinions or beliefs to align with our own.  Christ did not command us to go out into the world and become the “Borg” from the Star Trek series, telling those we encounter that resistance is futile, and attempting to absorb them into the collective.  We are first and foremost to share a message of love, love that offers hope, hope that offers a pathway to perfection – a pathway out of our slavery to ourselves (and our own ideas).  Every Christian must remember that the pathway with Christ leading, often leads us into thinking we did not consider before.  In short, we are all of us, wrong.  Wrong about what we like, what we want, and how we think – about a GREAT many things.  Christ is patient with us, and slowly leads us to see our errors, then as we allow Him, He fixes them.  But this process does not happen in the blink of an eye, so we cannot expect it in our brothers on our own timelines.

Keeping the goal of inclusion in our mind, we must remember that every word we offer another must be a word of love.  No hate, dislike, apathy, disdain, condemnation has ever made a person reform their thinking, change their mind, or feel loved.  Inclusion will require us to bite our tongues, deny our first impulses, refrain from throwing a counter punch, and sometimes swallow a ton of adrenaline.  It is not about the compromise of our values, it is about the effective ability to share our values with those who disagree in such a way that the ONLY message they see in them is one of love.  If our ideas cannot be relayed in such a way as to show only love, they are not worth expressing. 

Christ always was able to deliver pure truth in pure love and thus lure His listener to the source of all love in the process.  So should we strive for this in our own interactions.  Imagine how difficult it must have been for Him, the true source of all truth, to have to debate doctrines with the poisoned minds of the Pharisees bent on His destruction.  They were intent on killing Him, trying to trap Him into “no win” situations, while He was bent on saving each of them, trying to show them their error while never stating it in such a way as to offer them no hope, no love, and no redemption.  Christ was here even for His most devout enemies, those in His own church.

Often conflicts that arise in a church have less to do with doctrines and more to do with control, or the lack of it.  An idea is only as good as the person who came up with it – thus if “I” did not think of it, I am less likely to support it.  This thinking pervades the board rooms of corporate America, but all too often finds its way into Church board meetings as well.  There are those professed servants of Christ, who will refuse to serve in anything less than a leadership capacity.  Our character flaws are carried with us into His service, and despite our tepid willingness to work for Him, we still wish to exert our own ideas, our own conditions, on whether we will actually work for Him or not, or how much.  True servants, who in humility will serve in any capacity they are called upon, and perform to the best of His ability, are few and far between. 

In business it is said 20% of the people do 80% of the work, this truism may also apply to your local congregation.  Each church requires a wide variety of support positions for it to function well, from greeters, to deacons and deaconesses, to teachers, elders, administrators, musicians, and ministers.  But in most congregations, the same few folks tend to fill the same types of positions year after year.  This is not just due to their own desires, often it is due to a lack of interest by others content to do little for their own congregations.  As long as someone else is willing to take the vacant post, why should “I”?  Instead of 100% participation, which you might expect from those whose lives are supposed to be a profession of service to Christ, the percentage is far less.  Inaction, or conflicts over leadership, are an embarrassment to the ideas of true servitude in His mission.

When a conflict does arise over a doctrine of truth, the stakes can rise much higher.  It is not just the belief that “I” am right that is so driving, it is the combination that “you” are both wrong, and putting the church in moral jeopardy with your heretical teachings.  This is just the type of perfect storm designed to split the church.  One feels compelled to tell the other of the error in their doctrines.  One feels compelled not to stand by and allow other less educated sheep fall into the traps set by false doctrines, and doctrines of devils.  One must “stand” for Christ by opposing these heresies, for the protection of the flock.  All of these sentiments are keenly felt by the believer who is devout and cares about His church members.  But all lack one thing – a complete lack of self in the process.  The true leader of a Christian church is not the pastor, or the elders, or the church board, or the treasurer or other administrators, it is not even the entirety of the congregation by majority fiat: instead it is Christ alone.  Christ alone is the only true leader, and it is His church, that He cares about, and wishes to see escape the chains of evil, and avoid the traps of the evil one.

It is Christ alone, who is able to protect His church from falling into false and devil’s doctrines.  It is He, far more than “me”, that cares about what happens in His church.  And His motives are not corrupted with ego, or a desire to exert leadership, or a desire to be seen as “an authority” on spiritual matters.  So when a case of doctrinal dispute arises in a group designed for inclusion, perhaps each of us on both sides of the issue at hand might do well to first remember it is not OUR ideas that matter, but His alone.  If we are able to humble ourselves, and seek the leadership of Christ in this matter, in our own hearts, minds, and lives – perhaps Christ will lead us into a deeper truth, a better understanding, and with it a better approach on how to address the topic with those with whom we disagree.  In truth if both sides of a Christian conflict were to really use this approach, conflict would disappear through osmosis.  Christ would lead the erring one into a better position.  The reason why this is seldom seen in our churches, is that each believes it is ONLY the other person who requires His leadership and needs to change.  Each refuses to look in the mirror and find the heart that requires changing.  Yet our entire Christian lives are a series of self-recognition that truly “self” or “I” am the enemy of God.  We are constantly unlearning the poison of the world, in how we approach it, through the gentle leadership of Christ.  Perhaps it is time now, for us to recognize the process may also apply to deeper doctrinal understanding.

Trusting the true leader of our church to preserve the church He cares about, is the same requirement we have to trust the savior of our souls to complete the changes He has promised within us.  Too often we do not trust God to rid us of sin as He has promised and therefore believe we must “help” Him do so.  Our own self efforts to control our sins fail miserable time after time, yet we stubbornly refuse to let Him do all the work.  Instead we hold on to some of it ourselves, and continue to fail.  The same is true in the larger church.  We do not trust Christ to be the actual leader of our faith, and therefore believe we must “help” Him defeat ideas we believe to be in error.  We therefore cling to our own ideas, never realizing it was us who needed to change, and thus continue or promote controversy well after it might have otherwise gone away.  Christ does not need our help when it comes to removing evil, either from us, or from His church.  Instead He needs us to stay focused on “allowing” Him the complete freedom to remove evil from inside of us.  As this occurs, the evil in the church is removed as well.  One cannot remove evil from a group body, while consumed with it ourselves.  It was the lessen of the spec in a brother’s eye while a beam exists in our own.  Let us trust the Master Physician to remove both.

“It takes two to tango.”  And it takes two for conflict to remain.  If “I” can go humbly back to Christ, repent of my actions, and truly allow Him to change my mind on the topic as He needs to, whether in whole or in part, my part in the conflict can come to an end.  If “I” can seek the leadership of Christ in my church, and pray for the outpouring of His Holy Spirit on me, and on my enemies, to change me even more than He changes my enemies, my part in the conflict can come to an end.  But “I” have to resign myself, that my ideas must be totally placed on His alter, and He is free to change my thinking as He sees fit.  Even if my positions on doctrine turns out to be what He intended after all, my ability to express it in love will come from the divine reacher of souls who because of my abject willingness to be wrong, can place His words in my tongue that LOVE remains at the forefront of every communication with those who disagree with me.  For if “I” submit myself wholly to Him, it becomes less about what I would say, and more about what He would say through me.  He might even remind me that silence while He works on my enemy might be actually more effective, and joy over the changes I see in myself and in others is worth expressing.  Not all disputes must be solved in our own ideas of time.

Have you considered the parable of the wheat and the tares?  Those who are mistaken, the tares, are not immediately pulled out.  They too are watered and allowed to grow right in the midst of the wheat.  Only at harvest are they finally sorted out.  NOT in the growing process, not while there remains hope that the tare might look around him, and find it is better to be a wheat, and allow the creator to transform his life into that of a wheat.  It is not for the sake of the wheat that the tares are allowed to remain, it is for the sake of the tares.  The wheat have already been saved by grace, and are already transforming in the power of Christ into something of even more value.  It is the tares who are in need.  They should not be removed, but instead included, surrounded by the love of the wheat, that they too might also be transformed and saved. 

Cutting the tares out of the congregation early is condemning them to certain destruction, while doing nothing to enhance the wheat.  In fact, there is danger that cutting out the tares will also damage the wheat.  The wheat do not die because of the presence of the tares.  In fact, the wheat, having the knowledge of saving grace, cannot be deterred or tempted into darkness by those who have not yet seen the light.  The wheat grow up just fine, being nurtured by the Lord of the Harvest until they finally reach their goal.  It is the tares who so desperately need to be around the love reflected in the wheat.  It is the tares who need every opportunity to see love, and desire to be changed by it.  This is the role, those who believe themselves to be wheat in the church, must take on – to be a beacon of love that inspires change – not dogma desiring adoption.  Leave the tares alone, let them be, and show them nothing but love.  Their erring ideas will do nothing to pluck the wheat from the Master’s hands.  We can trust the Lord of the Harvest to protect His own, it is the tares who need our love, not our ideological domination.  If we can remember this, “we” can function differently on our way to His kingdom, leaving behind the conflicts of the past, and trusting in Him to light up the road as we move forward in grace.