I choose to love

A disclaimer:  The following post is my opinion only, and in it I use generalizations. By no means am I trying to say that ALL Christians are a certain way, etc.

Something I saw posted today finally solidified some of the thoughts I've had since attending our denomination's General Assembly last week. Basically, the post questioned why it was ok for Christians to use parts of Leviticus to tell homosexuals that they're sinners and abominations, but to ignore other parts of Leviticus, such as passages that say you must not wear garments of two kinds of material or get tattoos. There's quite a bit in there about sacrificing animals as well.

I have friends who are atheists. I suspect that a couple of them are atheists because they've been so despised and alienated by Christians for who they are. They are totally turned off to religion. I've been thinking a lot about these friends over the past week.

I walked away from the church when I was in college. Part of the reason I left was because I was being exposed to a lot of people who judged others. I remember very distinctly that Campus Crusade wanted us to go to Florida for spring break to walk the beaches with bible in hand and "save the sinners." I kept thinking, "Who am I to say that someone is a sinner?" That was one of the things that pushed me over the edge. I walked away and was basically agnostic for twenty years. I wonder what would have happened if I had been told I was an abomination? What if I had been despised, ridiculed, bullied and discriminated against for what I felt in my heart? Would I have gone all the way to atheism? Would I have been convinced that there was absolutely no way there was a God?

I'm new to Christianity. It's true that I was raised in the church, but I only accepted Christ into my heart this year. And maybe I'm ignorant and/or a little naive, but I think our purpose is to introduce people to a personal relationship with Christ, not to judge them. We are on this earth to be personal representatives of a loving God. Jesus said the two greatest commandments were to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and soul and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

How many people have we as Christians pushed away from Christ over the years because we judge them? Do we really think that telling people they are sinners and abominations will make them want to know more about Christ? What if we loved people instead? What if we opened our arms and welcomed people into our churches, regardless of their race, economic status, sexual orientation, etc.? Would we be doing the Lord's work then?


My job, as I understand it, is to be a witness for Christ. Can I fulfill that duty by judging and condemning, or should I love my neighbor as myself? It's easy to judge people, and I'm guilty of it quite often myself, but I will do my best to follow Christ's example.

I choose to love.

What Goes Around, Comes Around

I've had lots of thoughts going around my head since we spent last week at the national General Assembly for our denomination (Christian Church, Disciples of Christ). This post, however, has nothing to do with that. I hope to write more about those thoughts in the near future.

As I detailed in an earlier post, Alecia and I won some money at a reverse auction, and that money allowed us to replace the central air in our house, which quit working toward the end of last summer. I wrote how that money was a blessing from God, at a time when we really needed it.

Today, I had the opportunity to pay that blessing forward. Last summer, I had bought a window air conditioner when my central air quit. (It was so close to cooler weather, I didn't want to mess with what I suspected would be an expensive repair.) Additionally, Chris had had a window unit in his bedroom upstairs. This year, both those units have been sitting in closets. Until today. Today, a friend posted on facebook that she was looking for an A/C unit to give to a family in need. The family had five kids and limited financial resources. I offered up our two units (after conferring with Alecia, who, of course, approved). Hopefully now that family will have a little bit of respite from the oppressive heat this week.

I'm not writing about this to toot my own horn, because I didn't really do anything. All I did was recognize an opportunity and a responsibility to continue God's blessing.

I really have three reasons for posting this story. First, I continue to be amazed how God works and the fact that one blessing can have more, unforeseen blessings (by me, at least).

Second, I want to challenge anyone who reads this (including me) to keep their eyes and hearts open to needs that are around them. Look for ways you can help people.  My friend not only recognized the need of this family, but she went out and looked for ways to help them. She deserves credit for the compassionate love she displayed.

Finally, I want to challenge myself to continue to look at the ways God has blessed me and see if He is calling me to pay those blessings forward. After all....

What goes around, comes around.