A pastor spoke on forgiveness
and how to love our enemies, “Loving our enemies can be hard because so often
when we look at people and see their sin. Stop looking at the sin, look at the
person and our hearts will change.” His comments gave me pause and I’ll admit
that I often can’t see beyond a person’s sin, particularly when it is blatant —
homosexuality, lying, stealing, hypocrisy. Paul said, “Therefore, as God’s
chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each
other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive
as the Lord forgave you” (Col 3:13 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----It is false to see a person as anything other than what he is. To deal honestly with people according to the truth, we must see their sin. Otherwise Paul would have told the Galatians, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, just don’t notice it and love him like he’s ok.” (not Gal 6:1) In fact, you can’t love him that way; he’s not ok. Nor can you love your enemy blindly. We can not even love ourselves while ignoring our sins. It all leads to hell. That’s hatred! We use the word “love” to talk about the sentiments we believe it to be. But we must use the truth about love to mean that word.
-----Love and truth are inseparable. Love is righteous treatment. How is treatment going to be righteous without correlating with reality? Love that closes its eyes to any condition of the beloved knows not what right thing fit’s the beloved’s needs. So the beloved needs an egg and gets an apple. That apple will make a pie, but it won’t bake the beloved’s cake. Without truth, love is hate. Looking past the man’s sin to treat his hangnail is like the heart surgeon who gave his patient the best shave of his life, and maybe the last. Surely he needed heart surgery, Doc?
-----Mistreating our company of sinners like we have been taught to do these last few decades leads to mental illness. Mental illness is simply any counterproductive mental process. Treating fallacies rightfully is productive, whether they are yours or others. Ignoring fallacies is counterproductive. In the vacuum left by such ignorance every evil desire of mankind takes root and grows by human nature. Add demonic realities (another ignored area) to that nature, and well, you know what’s shortly coming. We wonder why a man would kill 59 people and mow down 450 more in a few minutes. Maybe he learned our counterproductive mental processes. We who taught him recoil at his actions in abject horror while blindly sanctioning the ripping apart of 2,750 children the very same day he shot 59! How evil is our ignored sin! This culture has gone insane for so long refusing to deal rightfully with sin. Look past fornication; murder the child. Will we repent? Wait till the pedophile steps into your church pulpit, invited there by the homosexual, who was invited by the woman who feasted upon the wrong menu item. Surely they will tell.
-----Forgiveness is the first thought mental health holds for every person encountered, including yourself, including Mr. Paddock, including the abortion “doctors“. But it does not function without the sinner’s repentance. Therefore, in waiting it is forbearance. Forbearance isn’t a blindfold. Nor is it passive. It is rightfully reacting to the sinner while waiting to become forgiveness of his sin. Forbearance needs to speak of the sin, kindly, persuasively, with a mind searching for the sinner’s repentance. We are told to have these so we can have the second thought, “How can I be of help?”. That’s love. As servants, love is our duty.
-----Paul told us to pray always. I should see a person‘s sin to pray for him, the third thought. For the Holy Spirit blazes all right trails. We ask because we need to bring the sight of every person into all of the right mental processes the right spiritual process makes of our minds, acknowledging the truth about him, before we can act or pray in love. Love is not wimpy, wimpy, wimpy. It's strength comes by prayer. Prayer can not be blind.
-----Nor can any right reaction.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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