We all want to be on the winning team, right? It feels good! We feel strong and powerful. Victorious! Nobody strives to win the silver medal. I believe this can carry over into our faith. We want to be the people who are right—who do things the right way, for the right purposes, to feel like we have special insight into what God wants from us.Here comes my bold statement of the day: I believe we have a ton of people showing a incomplete understanding of God's love…and it's only building up walls and dividing us from our brothers and sisters. This isn't anything new, either. 2000 years ago, the Pharisees and religious leaders were constantly trying to divide people according to good and bad, right and wrong. Jesus came along and said that we are all bad…and there's nothing you can do about it! But (I imagine him saying) just watch what I'm going to do about it!
We get in a huff when people do things we disagree with. We express sadness or disappointment—at times, vitriol—and then hope they somehow see Jesus in us. We are never going to be able to modify the behavior of the masses in order to make them good enough for heaven. There's no such thing! That's a humbling truth I'm not sure many relgious people understand. Thank God it's not up to us!
I find personal freedom in letting go of trying to change people to be like I think they should be, and continually falling on love as my action of choice toward them. However imperfect I am at that now, I hope to live the rest of my life improving.
