I received a call yesterday from someone in our community. He was calling to express his disapproval of me for a decision I have made.

You see, I’ve been asked to be the best man in one of our (Youth Dynamics) former student’s wedding. He’s a young man that’s been raised in the church, but never seen it for anything more than overbearing rules held by hypocrites. I’ve journeyed for a season with this young man and I really value some of the frank conversations about faith we’ve had. He knows where I stand and I know where he does. Our relationship has been a continuing conversation that I hope someday will grow into a lasting faith in Christ. All of that is fine and well, but here’s the kicker and reason for the phone call… he’s marrying a Mormon girl.

This is the point of contention that I’m being attacked over. They say that if I stand with him, I’m blessing this ‘unholy union’ and it ruins my witness and my ministry. They also told me that I will lose financial support from local churches and people who support me and my ministry.

My decision to stand up with this young man in his wedding was borne from my love for him and continuing desire to see him and his bride come to know Christ. My desire is to see the lines of communication open, not bridges burned. Am I condoning his actions? Nope. He knows that I don’t approve of the marriage, but also knows I love him.

We as Christians are often times so concerned with being right, that we forget to be kind. I just don’t think we’ll ever guilt or judge people into heaven. It doesn’t work that way. If we, as Christians, are to be Christ to an unbelieving world, how are we supposed to act? Judgmental or loving? Which one will show them Jesus’ true nature toward us? I firmly believe that by being a part of this couple’s lives, I’ll have a better chance of witnessing to them.

Let’s get this straight. We’re all depraved. We’re all sinners. And if we’re Christian, we’ve really done nothing to earn the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It was a free gift. So it’s a futile thing to draw line in the sand, trying to point out how we’re on one side and non-believers are on the other. We’re just fooling ourselves. The only one with the right to draw a line is Jesus, and NONE of us will ever measure up to that. Thank God for his grace, I just wish we could grant it to others.

So, I’m willing to lose face and financial support simply because I think Jesus would do the same.

As Christians we are promised in the Bible that we will face persecution and the world will hate us. Jesus said:

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. John 15:18

But my question [to American Christians] is this: Does the world hate us because of Christ within us? Or does it hate us because we have a tenancy to act like pompous, religious, harsh, judgmental,  know-it-alls?

I think we live with a false justification that if we act judgmental and non-Christlike it is okay because the world rejects us. And the Bible says we’ll be rejected. But, we aren’t called to make the world reject us. It should be simply be the existence of Christ within us and the path to which he calls us to walk that will bring rejection. Not the other way around. We’ve gone down the wrong road and forgotten who we were following in the first place.

Am I wrong?

I know that’s a stupid question, but why do we act like he was?

Pharisee {a self-righteous or sanctimonious person }

How many time (me, soooo  included) do we come to our Lord, expecting to be chastised for something we have done? How many times does that feeling keep us away from Him? Too often for me. We expect Him to brow beat and guilt us into submission.

How does Jesus deal with the woman caught in adultery? The Pharisee answer: stone her, she’s committed evil!

His answer: go and sin no more. Freedom and repentance go hand in hand.

But have we forgotten that we have salvation through Him and it was a FREE gift?

Have we forgotten that we did nothing to get this? He loves us first. We did nothing to earn it.

Now I’m not advocating that we live in sin, but I’m saying that we should embrace the newness of life. Live the life that we have been called to. Take that breath of fresh air the way a prisoner does when he’s released from jail for the first time.

So relax, the pressures’s off. The new life is here. Live it.