Last night me and my sons were watching the movie Warrior together and anytime the men on the movie would curse. My oldest son Brayden would be like.. "Hey! why are they saying that?" Now, how he knows that curse words are curse words is beyond me. I bet his grandparents (yaya and papa) taught him, just kidding its probably cause of me and Aimee.
But I told him its because the man on the tv disobeys God and I told him why don't you pray for him every time he disobeys God. He was like "How can i pray for him daddy he's on tv." So I said "God will know you're praying for him," and so he did or so I hope. But what got me rattled later on as I started to think about the challenge that I had given him was that I don't even do that myself.
Usually when people do things that don't line up with my doctrine of 'holiness' I react out of anger rather than love; I react with pride rather than with humility; I react with, in a sense 'sucks to be them', rather than I need to tell them about Jesus and what grieves me is that this is not even close to how Jesus reacts towards the broken and lost..
As I look all throughout the bible I see that Jesus treated the broken and lost in a completely different way than I do most the time. If we look at Luke 23:34 we see How Jesus reacted to people who were beating the literal 'hell' out of Him. We see Him asking 'Father forgive them for they know not what they do.' In John chapter 4 we see how Jesus reacts to the women at the well; he tells her "whoever believes in Me will never thirst again." And in Luke 19:41 we see how how He react towards Jerusalems not seeing Him as the messiah; He weeps over their hard hearts. Thoughout the entire bible the only people God reacts to in an unfavorable manner are those who deny that they have any need for him, the self righteous..
I have to be honest. When I read the bible I realize I'm nothing like Jesus. I'm not asking 'father forgive them' when people are continually walking in darkness. When people tell me about their problems i'm not instantly telling them that even if they do solve their problems they'll still be thirsty, and that their thirst can only be quenched with The Eternal. And while I do worry about people whom i believe to be unsaved I don't weep and grieve over their unrepentant hearts.
What i see when i look at myself is a spiritual infant that constantly needs to be aware of my own spiritual blindness and need for Renewal. I think younger believers in the faith, like myself, have a tendency to look down upon the unrepentant with unholy anger and that is just 'clear as day' evidence that we are not looking to Jesus enough.
I pray that we can be men and women who don't look to others righteousness or 'lack of' as a standard for our own but we always look to Christ. I pray that we are not angry or indifferent towards people continually seeking saviors that never satisfy but that we are constantly in intercession for them; that God will open up their eyes to see That which is Greater. I pray that we would not be self righteous but constantly conscious that we are all spiritually bankrupt apart from Christ alone. And lastly I pray that we will always be conscious of the fact if it not be for the Grace of God.. There Go We.. Amen!
Amen
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