Mercy and Not Judgment




I have not been able to shake a heavy feeling I've had since I first heard the news about the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses. The heaviness, I’ve come to realize, has had very little to do with the issue of same-sex marriage. What I’ve been feeling is embarrassed by my fellow Christians.

Embarrassed by the aggressive tone that the clerk and the crowds outside the courthouse (who may as well have been carrying torches) chose to take against our fellow human beings.  

Their “us-against-them" mentality. Their we’re right and you’re wrong mentality.  

It pained me to watch my fellow Christians behaving so unpleasantly and so self-righteously against their neighbors in the name of God. And it has made me wonder: who out there decided to become a Christian and to follow Christ after seeing what took place in Kentucky? It is my humble opinion that the answer is no one.

If we’re hoping to be fishers of men, is it with aggressiveness, judgment and self-righteousness that we should go about it?  Of course not. We should always choose, instead, to do everything possible, always and with God's help, to behave in a way that will make others want to follow Christ because of what they see in us.

Matthew, Chapter 7 reminds us how we should treat our neighbor and why we should not judge others.

Update 10/2/2015:  My heart was warmed to read this wonderful and inspiring article.

Offered respectfully,
Sabrina 






Comments

  1. I agree... Sometimes we forget in whose name we act...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marian, that is such a very lovely way to put it.

    Sabrina

    ReplyDelete

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