Lately the press has been making a big deal about the CEO of Chik-fil-A expressing his Christian views. In many respects, this is an expected backlash, especially when we come up against parts of God's Word that speak contrary to what we want to believe. We don't like what it has to say, and may even go so far as to become offended against God (or against His people who believe what He says) for saying something that they just don't want to hear.
That's an expected reaction because the fall into sin turned our hearts and minds away from God and toward ourselves. Good old Rene Descartes then took it even further when he postulated that existence begins with the self, and not with God. Basically, today we are reaping what he began sowing several centuries ago. After all, if meaning begins with the self, and not with God, then who is God to tell us what is right and wrong?
And here is where I want to make today's point. What God says is going to be offensive enough in the ears of sinful people. We really have no need to make matters worse by being offensive ourselves. (In fact, I would argue that this actually goes against what God says, since He tells us to love our neighbors, and no, I don't mean in the mushy way, but in sometimes telling them what they need to hear, but doing so in a caring way. Luther also speaks about this in the 8th commandment's meaning when he says we should explain everything in the kindest way.) Being a jerk brings the offending party from God to us, and that's just not right. Yes, people who disagree with the Christian faith will be offended at God, but it's not the place of the Christian to be offensive simply because what God says will be offensive.
I realize that this is a fine line to walk. We want to live our lives and proclaim God's presence and grace in our lives, and yet, we also want to demonstrate our faithfulness to what He says. That's where it sometimes gets difficult. And yet, when we think of it, it is actually rather freeing to let God be the one who gives the offense. God can handle it. After all, He has dealt with our sin once and for all through Jesus and the cross. God can take it when we don't like what His Word says, and He'll point us back to the cross to show us just how much He really does care for us.
But that doesn't mean that He softpedals on His Word. What God says still goes. But for us as Christians, we would be wise to remember that we need to let God be the one who does the offending. If anything, we turn people away from Him when we take it upon ourselves to be offensive. Then people stop listening to what God says and instead focus on us and our faults and sins and shortcomings. Now that's a battle that we will never win.
That's an expected reaction because the fall into sin turned our hearts and minds away from God and toward ourselves. Good old Rene Descartes then took it even further when he postulated that existence begins with the self, and not with God. Basically, today we are reaping what he began sowing several centuries ago. After all, if meaning begins with the self, and not with God, then who is God to tell us what is right and wrong?
And here is where I want to make today's point. What God says is going to be offensive enough in the ears of sinful people. We really have no need to make matters worse by being offensive ourselves. (In fact, I would argue that this actually goes against what God says, since He tells us to love our neighbors, and no, I don't mean in the mushy way, but in sometimes telling them what they need to hear, but doing so in a caring way. Luther also speaks about this in the 8th commandment's meaning when he says we should explain everything in the kindest way.) Being a jerk brings the offending party from God to us, and that's just not right. Yes, people who disagree with the Christian faith will be offended at God, but it's not the place of the Christian to be offensive simply because what God says will be offensive.
I realize that this is a fine line to walk. We want to live our lives and proclaim God's presence and grace in our lives, and yet, we also want to demonstrate our faithfulness to what He says. That's where it sometimes gets difficult. And yet, when we think of it, it is actually rather freeing to let God be the one who gives the offense. God can handle it. After all, He has dealt with our sin once and for all through Jesus and the cross. God can take it when we don't like what His Word says, and He'll point us back to the cross to show us just how much He really does care for us.
But that doesn't mean that He softpedals on His Word. What God says still goes. But for us as Christians, we would be wise to remember that we need to let God be the one who does the offending. If anything, we turn people away from Him when we take it upon ourselves to be offensive. Then people stop listening to what God says and instead focus on us and our faults and sins and shortcomings. Now that's a battle that we will never win.
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