I often wonder if Christians have developed a Cyborg mentality. We go out to try to make everyone be just like us. We often reinforce this idea through scriptures such as Jesus' instruction to make disciples of men. And anyone who does not do things the way we do, we avoid them like the plague, using such scriptures as "Shun the very appearance of evil," and if a brother will not repent of sin after two or three witnesses, then tell it to the church and let him be considered as a heathen. But I wonder if we have mixed up the messages of unrelated passages to develop an often isolationist mentality.
We are definitely instructed to share our faith by "going into the highways and hedges and compelling men to come. But come to what? Our way of thinking and doing things? That's not what Jesus said. We are supposed to compel them to come to relationship with Him. Not to become zombie replicas. Even though the scripture does teach us to walk in unity in Ephesian 4:3 and in St. John chapter 17, being at unity does not mean being identical. And it certainly does not mean that we can not be friends with those who are different.
Especially when it comes to dealing with those who are not believers. We know that the scripture trains us to refrain from being "yoked" together with unbeliever's, because evil communications corrupt good manners. But let us not compare apples with carrots. Dealing with an unbeliever is quite different than dealing with a believer. Jesus gave an example of how our relationships should work in Luke 16. He gave the example of the unjust steward, and tells us to make friends of unrighteous mammon in verse nine of Luke 16. We are to use our resources to be a benefit to others, and we should not shun connections with unrighteous people. However, we must diligently guard our hearts from being influenced by ungodly ideas.
This delicate balance is one that must be maintained by walking after the spirit. For the spirit searches all things, even the reigns or control center of our hearts. When we walk through life, the dust of the roads travelled often clings to our feet through no fault of our own. This is part of the revelation Jesus gave when he washed the disciples feet, showing that we must be humble enough to clean that dust away from one another to maintain a clean life. We must also be willing to allow others to clean that dust away from us. But Jesus did not tell them to never walk through the streets again in order to stay clean. So, through necessity, we must often have business dealings with unbelievers, in the work place, in the market place, at the doctor's office, etc. And often, we will see and hear ideas and ways of thinking that are contrary to the Word of God. These ideas can subconciously "stick" to us and begin to affect us. But we must come together to clean and be cleaned of the dust and dirt that unwittingly clings to us.
So never choose to be unfriendly to an unbeliever, but never choose to place yourself in a position that causes the ungodly ideas of unbelievers to have undue influence over your mind. Often, the only way to win an unbeliever to Christ is by befriending them. Just make sure that in your relationships, they are being led to Christ and that you are not be led astray from Christ.
We are definitely instructed to share our faith by "going into the highways and hedges and compelling men to come. But come to what? Our way of thinking and doing things? That's not what Jesus said. We are supposed to compel them to come to relationship with Him. Not to become zombie replicas. Even though the scripture does teach us to walk in unity in Ephesian 4:3 and in St. John chapter 17, being at unity does not mean being identical. And it certainly does not mean that we can not be friends with those who are different.
Especially when it comes to dealing with those who are not believers. We know that the scripture trains us to refrain from being "yoked" together with unbeliever's, because evil communications corrupt good manners. But let us not compare apples with carrots. Dealing with an unbeliever is quite different than dealing with a believer. Jesus gave an example of how our relationships should work in Luke 16. He gave the example of the unjust steward, and tells us to make friends of unrighteous mammon in verse nine of Luke 16. We are to use our resources to be a benefit to others, and we should not shun connections with unrighteous people. However, we must diligently guard our hearts from being influenced by ungodly ideas.
This delicate balance is one that must be maintained by walking after the spirit. For the spirit searches all things, even the reigns or control center of our hearts. When we walk through life, the dust of the roads travelled often clings to our feet through no fault of our own. This is part of the revelation Jesus gave when he washed the disciples feet, showing that we must be humble enough to clean that dust away from one another to maintain a clean life. We must also be willing to allow others to clean that dust away from us. But Jesus did not tell them to never walk through the streets again in order to stay clean. So, through necessity, we must often have business dealings with unbelievers, in the work place, in the market place, at the doctor's office, etc. And often, we will see and hear ideas and ways of thinking that are contrary to the Word of God. These ideas can subconciously "stick" to us and begin to affect us. But we must come together to clean and be cleaned of the dust and dirt that unwittingly clings to us.
So never choose to be unfriendly to an unbeliever, but never choose to place yourself in a position that causes the ungodly ideas of unbelievers to have undue influence over your mind. Often, the only way to win an unbeliever to Christ is by befriending them. Just make sure that in your relationships, they are being led to Christ and that you are not be led astray from Christ.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment