Christians: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (Part II)

Ephesians 5:2
Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

I've come across a couple disappointing things that I feel I must share.  The first being the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, in their sad pursuit of picketing what they believe to be things that are not of God.  I read an article about a funeral they were planning to picket...and my heart sank.

It hurts to see groups like this proclaiming the name of Jesus...but living in a way that breaks His heart. 


I was reading a blog post I came along the other day written by a self-proclaimed Atheist.  He said:

"I am writing to express my confusion over how many Christians seem to act contrary to the words attributed to Jesus in the Bible. Christian extremists such as Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, and Pat Robertson preach intolerance and hatred. I cannot reconcile their message with what Jesus is reported to have said. But the problem goes way beyond a handful of extremists...

...Jesus had far more to say about how the poor should be treated than he did abortion or gay marriage."

I think he makes some great points.  

At the end of the day, this post isn't meant to pick out the extremists or to call them names.  It isn't to bash WBC or even to assess their hearts.  God is the only one who can see past our skin and into our souls.  We're all guilty at the end of the day for possessing this thing called sin.  But in the end, it's a reminder and a challenge that there is no such thing as loving TOO much.

Don Miller once wrote that sometimes we treat love as though it's a commodity.  Giving when we approve, withholding when we disapprove.  But true love has nothing to do with the one receiving that love, and everything to do with the one giving it.  The giver gives simply because he loves...though there may be nothing in return. 

Remember, He first loves us....while we were yet in sin.  Not after we changed.  Not after we saw the truth.  Not after we turned our lives around....(and even if we never did) but before.

We as Christians need to have more of that kind of love for the world and everyone in it.  A love that goes out as a fragrant offering, rather than a rancid stench. 

Thanks, my Atheist fellow blogger, for sharing your thoughts.  May it challenge all of us to simply learn to love more like Jesus....love the atheists...love the extremists...love the religious...and everyone in between.