With the recent happenings in politics, religion has been thrown to the forefront of everyone's attention.
Unfortunately, not in a good way.
I'm not going to make this post about my personal political agenda or opinions, because honestly…I hate politics (sorry Evan 😉). But I am angry. So very angry. I have been for a while, and I have kept quiet about it for too long. It is not the people spitting harsh words at Christians that I am angry with. Quite the opposite, actually. I am furious with many people of the Christian faith. I am embarassed. I am ashamed. I am heartbroken.
Above ALL things, people of the Christian faith are called to LOVE. We are not asked to love, we are not pleaded to love, we are commanded to love. The word of God doesn't say "just love your family, your friends, and people who are just like you."
Nope.
In the book of Mark we are told to "Love your neighbor as yourself." Neighbor, coming from the Hebrew word "rea' " means those in proximity to you. That means EVERYONE we encounter in a given day,week,month, year, lifetime. This is given as the second most important thing that we should do in our lives (the first being to love God). Pointing our fingers, judging, and yelling messages of hate is NOT WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO DO. We are supposed to love others to the message of Christ. To gently guide those who are seeking the truth. Do people honestly think that telling someone that God hates them (AN UNTRUE MESSAGE) is going to make them say, "Ya know what, you're right…I'm gonna go to church now." It's ignorant. And I am so sick of ignorance. We are also called to love God with all our heart, soul, and MIND (Matthew 22:7). As Christians we should be in a constant pursuit. A pursuit of knowing as much as we possibly can about our faith, our God, and our beliefs. This way when people have questions or challenge our beliefs, we can give them answers filled with wisdom from studying the history and truth of God's word and not just filled with what we learned as a child or with something we recently read on the internet.
*(I'm not disregarding all internet resources,the reliable ones can be great learning tools…you get the idea)
It's so upsetting that people are representing my faith and my beliefs in the complete and total wrong way. Not only does it break my heart, it also breaks the heart of God. My God is not a God of hate. He is the ultimate and truest definition of love.
Loving someone does not mean you have to agree with them. Loving someone does not mean that you love everything that they do or don't do.
Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love does not envy .
Love does not boast.
Love is not proud.
Love does NOT dishonor others.
Love is not self-seeking.
Love is NOT easily angered.
Love keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
Love protects.
Love always trusts, hopes, and always perserveres.
Love never fails.
I know we've all heard that verse (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) a thousand times in weddings, but that doesn't make it any less true.
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World Race Update…
My, has time flown… I am leaving for my World Race training camp this Saturday! I will be just outside of Atlanta for a week of camping (let the outdoorsy-ness begin).. yikes! I have a feeling that God is going to really stretch me this week. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous. Please pray for me this week!!! (and feel free to let me know if you are!)
I also want to thank all of my supporters again (financial and prayer)!! I can't express how much everyone's generousity and kindness means to me. I am praying for you all as well!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
