something to think about

We are to love. 
not judge. There are more verses in the Bible about feeding the hungry and taking care of those in need than there are about homosexuality, about attending service every single sunday, about not cussing, about making money, about "holy" mountaintop experiences. things are the way they are right now because for the most part, we've failed to portray Christ as who He is. we have people preaching the "prosperity" gospel, yelling at people that they're going to hell, forcing kids to attend services, and making rude comments to athiests on youtube videos that are just as narrow-minded and vulgar as any God-bashing comment. no wonder films like Jesus Camp comes out, no wonder the term "Christian" has a negative connotation in America, no wonder it's so easy to believe that there is no God than to follow one whose followers are the most hypocritical, offensive, intolerant, fake group of people ever.

church, please stop faking it. please stop dusting those pews and maybe invite beggars and prostitutes to sit in them. please stop searching for out-of- the- body experiences and remember what it means to be His hands and His feet.

to love because there is no debt remaining, love because that is at the heart of the Cross.
shining His light from the inside out, not from the outside. what is the fruit of the Spirit?
Love, joy, peace.
patience, kindness, goodness.
faithfulness, gentleness, 
self-control.

what is the gospel? We're all messed up.  in the same boat, not one differing from the other,
the gangster, the drug addict, the gamer, the swimmer, the artist, the charity owner, the murderer, the promiscuous, the perfectionist, the priest, the professor.
we've all made mistakes before

But God loves his people. passionately, unconditionally, enough to give them a planet whose beauty is always awakening every single day. who does not fail to provide breath after breath, a body with an intricate working system with incredible cells to sustain them and let them do crazy things like dance, savor delicious food like tiramasu, run until the legs cramp, solve sudoku puzzles and build spaceships. He colors this world in a way unseen so far in the universe, filling it with all sorts of life beside the human. He gives them so many pleasures. of relationships, good food, and the ability to create things. laughter, obtaining knowledge. making love. of climbing mountains, holding a son or a daughter, feeling quenched by water. Music. He creates them with needs, and satisfies every single one of them. but for the ultimate one, the relationship between himself and his people, He gives them a freedom to choose, because perfect love casts out fear, and He desires us to know what love truly is. 

so he doesn't just create them worshiping him, like heartless robots. he doesn't force them from the beginning to know him, for he wants them to find out for themselves- Self. He has created them with selves, like His very own, in His very image. an identity as an individual, unique and unlike anything else in all of creation. He gives this to them. He gives them his work but does not give them everything they need to believe him, to teach them faith and trust, because love has been through the darkness, love's strength prevails over storm. he wants them to be able to grow, to become stronger through trials, not simply live as fish in tanks with everything taken care of already and everything easy and one dimensional. he wants us to thrive in the sea.

but to give freedom is to allow room for mistakes. it's to allow room for daggers being thrown at his very heart-- his own people turning from him and living in their own ways. but he is just. evil cannot go overlooked, for righteousness would have no meaning. to administer justice is to give the act what it deserves. his people did not choose to walk with him, so he cannot force them to be with him after death. hell, not like the cartoon. a place without him-- but if he is the source of goodness and light, then it can only be a place of despair. the cost of freedom

so all have failed to choose him, sin tainting everything. can the story end here? where justice is served and humanity ends with death and then an eternity without God? yes. why should it not?

because he steps in where he did not have to. intervenes. it is too much for him, he loves them
so he does everything to save them without breaking justice; he dies for them: coming down in their form because this is how intimate of a relationship he intended on having with them, and suffers a terrible death. because on that day of Calvary, the weight of sin was carried. death no longer had a hold on its victims, Jesus tore that veil separating man from God. He rose for their justification, so that through faith in what he did for them they may be able to have a new life, one saved by grace knowing that they have a righteousness that does not come from their own efforts, but through Christ. a new life not self-centered, but surrendered to let God work in them, because he has a wonderful plan. a new life where they don't follow rules or regulations, they follow him out of pure love and are satisfied in a way they have never known before.