Lately, there has been much going on in society. Same sex marriage is legal; those of transgender identification are becoming more accepted; divorce rates are at an all-time high. As one of Christian faith, it seems that the world is crumbling. It may be, but not in the way one would think. Our world is not crumbling because sin has become rampant. Sin has always been rampant. If it is crumbling, it is due to Christians not partaking in our most important goal in following God: to love.
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13
Love is what we are missing today. Love for others, love for ourselves, and love for God. We dictate the lives of others and judge them for the sins they commit. What we fail to realize is we sin by judging them. We sin by stressing and not trusting God. We sin by lying to ourselves when we say what we do is right. Everyone sins, and no sin is greater than the other. We should not judge the lives of others. It is not our job, nor right, because we have sin seeping into our lives daily. It is God’s job, alone, to judge His children. As Christians, we should respect that. We have our own lives to live, and the doings of others should not be a concern. We should be so in love with God, so focused on our walk, that all there is to see within us is His good will.
“‘Love your neighbor as yourself.‘” Mark 12:31
Why is it that we have fallen so far into sin that we consider it a righteous act? Gossiping against your neighbor, judging others for their actions, and hating them for their lifestyle is a sin. We should hate the sin but love the sinner, and we are not doing just that. Thinking back to darker times, when churches were segregated, how did Christians defend this act? In Acts, God leads Peter to speak to the Gentiles about the goodness of His word. The Gentiles were those which the Jews thought were unfit for God’s light, but this was wrong. God sent Paul to the Gentiles to break the barriers against who can believe in Him and who cannot. All are welcomed at the feet of God. He does not discriminate between race, gender, ethnicity, or sexuality. We are His children, and He loves us all. So why is it that God, the One who sees everything and the One who we are hurting with our sins, can accept those who are unacceptable and we can’t?
God wants us to lead. He wants us to be strong in the fight against sin—all sin. Lying, murder, stress, distrust in Him, sexual immorality, hate; all of these things are to be swept out of our lives because God wants us to live in the light. He wants us to be safe, to spread His word through our hearts, our words, and our actions. Sins which we are taught to know are easy to avoid, but it is the ones ingrained in our daily lives that are easy to commit. We also must realize that just because another Christian is judging others does not mean is it right. Judging others is never right—it leads to hate. Hate is unnecessary negativity in our lives. All these acts hurt God deeply. All of these are sins, and none more awful than the next. As Christians, no, as fellow human beings, we must take the lives of others with a grain of salt and never make their sins more important than ours. Spend time improving our lives, not degrading the lives of others. This is what we must do in order to change our crumbling society. Only then will love prevail.
