Grace, Truth and Love

I have not posted in a while, having taken some time to reflect on what message God would have me share. I spent some time reading several prominent news sources online (from both CNN and FOX), and examining the comments at the end of the articles. While the content of the articles - in general, stories about government spending and policy - was disturbing, the very saddest part were the comments.

And I am not dividing these comments into camps with labels such as 'conservative' and 'liberal.' If you read nearly anything I have posted here, you know that I am a conservative and a Christian. But in reading these comments from both sides of the aisle, I see a total lack of anything resembling grace or love, with the occasional truth being obliterated by the angry tone of the speaker.

Brothers (and sisters), this is not what we have been called to. Proverbs 3:5-6 and Colossians 2:2-3 explicitly tell us that all wisdom and truth comes from the Lord; why is it we expect wisdom and understanding from those held captive by the empty philosophy of this world? 2 Timothy 2:24-26 explicitly calls us to gentleness and patience as we share the truth with those 'held captive by the devil.' Where is our gentleness and patience? I understand that most of the comments that saddened me came from non-believers, but many came from those identifying themselves as Christians.

So how should this look, when (not if) we disagree with the world on critical issues? I am no paragon of virtue, and I struggle with this like everyone else. I think we should ask ourselves: what are my expectations from this conversation? How do my words reflect Christ? We should disagree firmly, but respectfully. I think the biggest piece that we miss is empathy. This world is held captive - like we were, before Christ - so we need to remember we aren't better than anyone, we are just saved by grace. We did nothing to achieve our salvation; Christ set aside His divine rights to die horribly on a cross. Realizing, then, that our only advantage is Christ within us, it should temper our speech so that God may grant repentance to those with whom we speak (2 Timothy 2:25). Aside from Christ we have nothing to offer.