8/20/13:

TFTD: “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory…. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” James 2:1,13

Never has there been a time in Christianity with such a need for impartial ambassadors to the unchurched world. It took me a long time this morning to phrase that in a way that gets my point across correctly. Thinking back through the history of the bible we see that there are so many needs that the early Christian church had. A need for a leader, a savior, forgiveness, unashamed witnesses, and so many more, but I feel that Christianity has one giant need in today’s society. Yes we may be in need of many of the same things as the early church but specifically we are in need of impartial ambassadors for Christ. I choose the word impartial very carefully here because I don’t want it to get confused with tolerance. The term tolerance has become so convoluted by so many different things that generally all we now mean is acceptance. We need to tolerate (accept) people regardless of their beliefs and values because we live in a free country and disregard their spiritual and eternal wellbeing. I’m not so sure that is what we are called to do as children of God

            I chose the word impartial because it has to do with judgment and patience rather than acceptance. I don’t think we are called to accept others and their beliefs and not do anything about it. We are called to spread the word of Christ and to share that eternal forgiveness and salvation with them. To me impartial gives the context that we aren’t supposed to judge others for who they are or what they believe because we aren’t the judge, we leave that up to God, but rather we are to be patient and careful with those who have fallen away from the church or who have never been churched in the first place. We aren’t supposed to judge or categorize people based on the fact that they dress in a different way or because they have tattoos and piercings galore. Instead we are show them love, mercy, and grace because we all realistically fall into one and only one category. Sinner. Ultimately we all face the same end result unless we, who have the knowledge of Christ, step off our high horses and help up those around us who are lost and confused. As Jesse Jackson put it “Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up.”

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” –C.S. Lewis