My kids have a friend, an amazing young man who clearly has the spiritual gifts of a prophet. He is a voice in the wilderness, demanding that our culture shape up and follow the Laws of God. I agree with everything he says.
But.....
I also think that for every Jeremiah there are more than a few Mother Teresas. The ones who wash feet, clean maggot infested wounds, and wipe snot and tears from the faces of the desperately ill. The ones who relentlessly serve the most vulnerable among us.
I used to think I was a Jeremiah. In a way I still believe I have some of the spiritual gift of prophesy. No, I don't predict the future. I do, however, tend to see things in black and white. I see the way America is spiraling out of control - on a path to degradation that I don't think we can yet comprehend. The Bible tells us that all of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were evil to the core. All of them. God could not find even ten righteous men in the cities. That is a sadder state of affairs than even we can fathom, and believe me, I do not see our culture through rose colored glasses. If anything, I see it as worse than it really is. Lot and his family were spared strictly because God chose to show favor to Abraham. They did not deserve to be saved, and in the end Lot's wife was not.
Here's the thing, though. None of us deserve to be saved. Yet, in His infinite mercy and grace, God has chosen to offer salvation anyway. So, even though I believe that obedience to God's law is so incredibly important, I also believe that showing God's love to those who don't yet know Him is equally important. As a whole, those who claim to be followers of Christ don't look much like Him at all. God is equally just and loving. Just to be sure I am being clear, I do believe in judgement, and I believe in Heaven and Hell. Both very real places and both inhabited by people made in the image of God. I believe that one day all of the world will give an account to Him. One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. There is no doubt in my mind that that day is coming - sooner than we may realize. What I do not believe is that any certain sin lands you in hell - if that were true we would all be doomed. Any sin at all, no matter how "small" the world may deem it, separates you from a holy and perfect God. Any sin. So, to make any one sin seem bigger or "worse" than my sin, is just plain wrong no matter how you cut it. What lands people in hell is the rejection of God's offer of salvation through the blood of Jesus. That's it. No other pre-requisites, no check lists of dos or don'ts. We don't deserve for God to save us - we all deserve hell. The fact that He offers us another option is the miracle.
Where I have changed a lot over the years though is in the area of judgement here on earth. I am by nature a very judgemental person. I am not proud of that, but it is true. Those with the spiritual gift of prophesy tend to come across this way, simply because people do not want to be told that they are wrong about anything. Especially if they can look at your life and see that you are not perfect, and of course, none of us are. I am sure that the prophets of old were not perfect either, but they had a job to do and they did it.
In recent years however, I have softened a bit in this area. The prophets of old lived in a time before Jesus was born. No one could "earn" their way to Heaven even then, as we read in Scripture that "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness." However, we also know that obedience was rewarded and disobedience was punished in a much swifter fashion that we typically see today. I still believe that we will all reap what we sow, but we don't normally see people dropping dead immediately as a result of sin. God, in the beginning, had to keep His chosen people separate and holy - set apart from the world that surrounded the nation of Israel. Today, we live on the other side of the cross and while God is the same yesterday, today, and forever - we have Jesus to look to as the author and perfecter of our faith. It is only through His blood that I am saved.
So, in recent years God has really been humbling me in various ways. One thing He has done is open my eyes to the things that burden Him. I prayed the prayer once, "God break my heart for the things that break Yours" - and I caution you to consider it long and hard before you do it. Broken hearts hurt. And this world is one broken heart after another. Every where I turn I see things that must grieve the very heart of our Savior. After all, He died that we might be FREE! Free to love and serve Him the way He commanded us. Free to love Him and love others. Free to serve the way He served when He walked this earth - with humbleness and an attitude of servitude. Free to wash feet, clean up wounds, and loose the chains that bind! Free to care for orphans, no matter the cost.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
This friends, is pure and undefiled religion. Caring for those who can offer you absolutely nothing in return. It is what Jesus did. And while the prophets of our world call for reform, and no one agrees more than me that reform is needed - if we are honest, we all must admit that Jesus called for heart change. Jesus called for love, peace, and humble servant hood.
How do you reconcile the two? That is the question I have had to wrestle with for a number of years. I believe that the answer is pretty simple when you get to the heart of it. There are people who will be reached by the prophet. People who are so stubborn and so hardened in their sin that they need to be shaken to their very core. They need to hear someone say it loud and clear. Sin is sin and needs to be dealt with.
Then, there are more people who need to be wooed to the heart of God. People who have been so beaten down by our world, by life and by the church that they can't see out from under their condemnation, sometimes self-imposed. There are people who are lost, terrified, and just misunderstood. They need the gentleness and the peace that Jesus offered when He said, "Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest." They need to see that someone loves them in spite of their lifestyle or their junk. That there are people who are willing to invest in their lives, peeling back the layers, one at a time, until their true selves are exposed - and that they are loved anyway.
Jesus embodied the definition of love, but He also had his moments of anger. If we look closely though, His anger was directed at those who claimed to follow God, but did not love others. His anger was directed at the church. It is another post to tell you how I feel about the person who claims Christ and then lives like the world. That is where our "judgement" needs to be directed. Paul said in 1 Corinthians, chapter 5, "For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. 'Purge the evil person from among you.'”
That brings me to my last point. God will judge the world at the end of time. It is His to judge. His call to obey, His call to fear the Lord is a real call. I believe that our culture is lax in this calling. We do not truly fear the Lord as we should. We do not teach our children to fear Him, as we should. I believe we will answer for that. However, these callings are on us - the Body of Christ. They are not on the world. Those outside of a relationship with Him are not required to obey Him. Why would they?? They don't have the means to even understand the Scriptures, much less obey them. They have no obligation. Friends, the obligation to obey Him is ours, the obligation to love others is also ours.
We can justify it any way we want, but it is what Jesus did. Let's do the same. Love God. Love others. It really isn't all that confusing and true love covers a multitude of sins.
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