Jesus is more liberal than we think

*Sorry this is so long, I can't really shorten it.*

First let me say that I don't know everything. And that's it's easier to say what's wrong than what's right. But I see some things that are wrong in our picture of Christianity. It's like the back of that kid's magazine, highlights, where you have this sweet picture with things that just don't fit.

So many of our efforts are to get our God into a box. It's great to understand who you love and serve, but it's another to try to limit Him. Let's hold firm to the commands of our Lord, but let's not add or take away from what He said. And let's take seriously when He says, in Matthew 7, to take the plank out of your own eye before you help your brother with his splinter. Let's heed the word of Paul when he tells us about interacting with others in Romans 14... that certain Christians will do different things, but they do them unto the Lord.

We have this warped picture of the church, or Christianity, and it's like THAT is our goal. And THAT is what we're building. All the while, our world is dying without the love of God, because we fail to be His ambassadors. And here's the worst part:

Those who step out in faith to serve the living God, and who hear from God and move forward in obediance... they are bombarded by "rebuke" or the "wise counsel" of Christians who are unwilling to see and hear from God as He is.

And we forget that God loves people, and he's about rescuing people. And that He pursues the lost recklessly and bravely, and courageously, driven by a love that defies logic. Are we intimately related with God to the point that we agree with Him? Do we recognize the God who leaves the 99 to save the 1 as our God? Or what about the dying saviour who grants eternal life to the dying theif? Or what about the Jesus who amongst all the men of a village, who seek to stone a whore... shows mercy to someone who is desparately lost? Our Lord stood against the political and religious majority of His day, in order to save the vilest of sinners. Think about it... is THAT the God you love and serve? Or is your God more concerned about you personally? Don't forget that it's by grace that you were saved, and it's that same grace that God wants to flow through you into others.

But we still don't get it... and we think that our service to God is voting republican, homeschooling our kids, and staying as far away from this world as possible. And then somewhere we created the dogma that people who kill themselves all go to Hell... so we're left with this mass of people, wanting nothing more than to kill themselves and get to heaven, but they can't do that. And one last thing: all of the evangelical political agendas have nothing to do with the glory of God, but meerly the comfort of Christians, at the expense of others. Is abortion wrong? I'd say yes. But the bible doesn't talk much about picket signs and bumper stickers either. If you hate your neighbor you hate God, and if God loves you, the world will know it because you'll love them. And it's not this Jon that said that, it's the First John. And we wonder why people aren't attracted to the abundant life of forgiveness and mercy and love that is Christianity? It's because we're trying to turn Christiniaty into Amish...ness... Amishness.

*throw all the vegetables you want.*

It is no mistake that Christ hasn't returned yet, and it's no mistake that we are here in a world that disagrees with God and the Bible. God has GIVEN us darkness that we might be of use to Him as light- and He says that we are light- even the light of the world. He has PLACED us where we are as His ambassadors. Ambassadors don't stay at home in comfort, they go in obediance, representing their master.

It might hurt to hear the reason why America's culture is going downhill. It's not because we don't have enough elderly conservatives voting... it's because our nation has failed to instruct our younger generations in wisdom. And we have failed to listen to what God is asking of us as individuals, and have traded a narrow path in exchange for an easier, streamlined path. We sit on our butts in churches full of people who look like great people, and we think we're alright. And we point fingers at the darkness for not letting us be light, as if the darkness has any control over the light. And we believe, subconsciously, that Jesus was lying when He said that He has overcome the world. And we say, it is not my part in God's story to be courageous... how could I? I am surrounded by the troubles of this world.

I'm not crazy, and I don't even know if I'm a liberal... but I believe in God. And I know that He has the power to complete what He asks me to do. So my reaction to God is to trust and obey Him. {sarcasm}Even if it's as extreme and taboo as loving a sinner. {/sarcasm}