We too often confuse loving with judging

My facebook cover photo is the picture from the left.  It was taken in January 2015 while we were sailing with Danger Charters out of Key West, FL.  It is me, my wife Diane, and our two adult sons.  It was a great trip.  I’ve had this cover photo for a year and a half now.  Facebook sends me reminders to keep my cover photo updated.  And it seems like the longer I leave it there, the less I want to put up a different picture.  The longer I wait, the harder it is to change it.

In a similar train of thought, I find sin to be something that’s more difficult to give up the longer we hold on to it.  Sometimes we can even convince ourselves that our sin is not sin so there is no need to repent or turn from it.  And instead of sending the Holy Spirit to convince us otherwise, perhaps because He has sent the Spirit so many times, sometimes God lets us have our way and allows us to believe sin is not sin.  In the first chapter of his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul writes that people “suppress the truth” (1:18) and God basically lets them believe their own lies (1:24, 1:26, 1:28).  There is big trouble for those in this situation.  Romans 1:32 says they try to convince others to practice these sins as well.  Here is the HCSB version:  “Although they know full well God’s just sentence–that those who practice such things deserve to die–they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.” 

Chapter 2 begins by saying that we must not judge the sins of others, because we have our own sins to worry about.  (Like the plank and the speck from Matthew 7:5).  We must not look down on someone else just because they sin differently than you and/or me.  This is a theme from the entire New Testament.  But we must also ask ourselves if God would have us to simply celebrate their sin with them, or if His love would compel us to tell and show them that Scripture warns us that we must all repent of our sins.  If we tell them they must repent of their sin, we risk society calling us judgemental and labeling us as a ______phobe.  If we do not tell them they must repent of their sin (just as we must repent of ours), then we risk disobeying God’s Word.  I’ll take my chances with society.

*

*

*

*

*