As stated in Romans 5:8, Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
So why do we insist on seeking the unsaved's change of behavior before the conversion of their souls? Why do we allow the differences and disagreements to cause us to blur our vision of their need for salvation? Why do we lose compassion for their souls in a sea of frustration with their views?
God's only requirement of us in order for His Son to die for us? Be a sinner. So why do we slab on a long list "be just like us" requirements?
Too often we push our own lists and agenda's instead of the Gospel. Why do we not instead seek and strive for their salvation? We become so flabbergasted with the issues yet all the while missing THE issue- their salvation.
God never calls us to sanctify the unsaved. He calls us to go to them with the Good News of the Gospel. Period. First comes the faith, then the works. I am afraid that too often Satan is using our even good and godly beliefs and convictions to ruin our testimony.
I have heard and seen so many Christians investing so much time and energy in trying to convince and debate the unsaved on different issues, but they never get to the main problem of the lack of their relationship with Christ. I have also heard way too many jokes and sarcastic speeches against people with "other" views. Apparently we have forgotten that "ALL have sinned and fallen short..." (Romans 3:23).
And while I may agree with these Christians on some of the issues, what breaks my heart is the lack of love. We have sacrificed our love and burden in exchange for needing to be right.
How dare we ever laugh. How can we EVER joke? We should be in tears and on our knees praying, NOT for these people to change their views, but for them to know Christ.
You see, we want a Christian-like world. Yet we miss the step where people become Christians.
God has promised us the world we live in is His enemy (James 4:4). Why do we not believe Him on this? So maybe we should stop trying to sanctify this world and instead take the gospel to it.
Can we ever find ourselves in the same place as Paul, where when dealing with people without understanding we can forget all the other less important issues expect Jesus Crucified (1 Cor. 2:2)? Is there any way we can remember as he did that those who are without the Spirit cannot, CANNOT understand these issues in the same Spirit-lead light that we can (1 Cor. 2:14)?
I'm not saying the issues are not important. I am saying they are less important. I am saying to stop expecting this world to be Christ-like when they don't know Christ. And I'm not saying to stop dealing with the issues; I'm saying to stop attacking the people. I'm saying to not forget their GREATEST need. I am saying to desire and strive for people's salvation before their sanctification.
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Yeah, I totally agree with this - somewhere once I heard this: "we can't expect unsaved people to act like they're saved" and it's so true. I think about it a lot in regard to politics - people expect politicians and legislation to come from Christian perspectives and crack down on things like gay marriage and abortion, but the majority of our country are NOT Christians, so why do we expect them to vote like Christians? My favorite line was "we want a Christian-like world, yet we miss the step where they become Christians" - what a good reminder!!!
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