God Gives More Grace

Early in his life as a Pharisee, Saul thought he was doing a great work for God by fiercely persecuting the church.  It was only after Jesus confronted him on the road heading to Damascus that Saul saw that in persecuting Christ and His followers he was persecuting God Himself.  Saul was later converted as a follower of Jesus, baptised, filled with the Holy Spirit, and became widely known as Paul.  The same fire and tenacity was there, but Paul had been tempered and honed by Jesus Christ.  Never again did Paul go on a fleshly rampage or crusade against evil.  Instead he was led and empowered by the Holy Spirit and his words were seasoned with love and grace.

The same ill which affected young Saul as a Pharisee ironically afflicts many professing followers of Jesus to this day.  In trying to make a strong stand for Jesus they do much damage to the cause of Christ.  I'm sure you've seen the websites with animated flames, the screen filled with wordy articles in all caps screaming at "non-believers," all with a sense of smug self-righteousness.  The presentation spoils the message.  The words well-meaning people type very well may be true in an academic sense, but if they are not written motivated by love for God and compassion for the lost they are all wrong.  Some people write as if their blood is boiling with rage instead of having cheeks moistened with tears of sympathy for those who are blind, lost, and dead in transgressions and sins.  James and John suggested to Jesus that they call down fire on unbelievers to teach them a lesson.  Luke 9:55-56 reads, "But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. ⁵⁶ For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." And they went to another village."

As Christians we should contend for the truth of scripture and the veracity of the Gospel, but we are not called to be contentious.  Many do not share Christ as they should, but this does not give us license to be rude, condescending, and hateful.  We would do well to obey the exhortation of Christ when He faced those who were self-righteous in Matthew 15:14:  "Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."  When you consider the life of Jesus, you will find that He never entertained dishonest questions.  If someone was testing Him, Jesus would never answer those questions directly with doctrine.  He did not debate views or doctrine that people wanted to fight over.  Yet if someone was ignorant and desired God's wisdom, Jesus took the time to explain.

For those Christians who feed on debate and love to throw punches, seek God for a spirit of meekness and gentleness.  In the long list of sins Paul mentions in Romans 1:29, one of them might come as a surprise:  "...Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers..."  Tucked between murder and deceit, we find the word "debate" in the KJV, "strife" in the NKJV.  Wrangling and quarreling have no place in the body of Christ, and that is not the way Jesus won souls for the kingdom of God.  Love God, love people, and share the truth of God's Word.  We do not need to condemn people, for they are condemned by their sins already - just like me and everyone else!  If they want to fight and debate over it, let them alone.  Go to the next village.  But we should not let them alone without interceding for them in prayer with moistened eyes and a heavy heart.  We should have the heart of David, who fasted and prayed for days that his dying child would live.  Who knows if God might be gracious and turn that soul to repentance and eternal life?