I believe many in today's society have confused two very vital and important
points. The first is the question of love and the second is the
understanding of right and wrong.
God is love...that's what I keep hearing over and over again. God
loves us no matter what we do and who we are. Yes, this is true. God
loves us. Like a father loves his own son or daughter. It was so great of
a love, in fact, that God sent his own son to die for our sins. And we were
enemies of God (Romans 5:10), we did not even love him in return. It is the
ultimate story of love overcoming hate. So as imitators of God and
disciples of Jesus, having been forgiven of our sins, we should love our
neighbors more than ourselves, which includes everyone around us, even our
enemies.
This is where most people stop. The image of God looking down on us with a
smile on His face telling us to do whatever we so wish to do. Enjoy life, do
whatever, but in the end, you're saved by grace! So live on, live without
rules, worries or concerns! Jesus covered it all and he accepts all no
matter who they are or what they do. There are no laws to follow because Jesus
wiped them all out when He died on the cross.
As my pastor recently said, that would make for one horrible father. Would
you love everything that your son or daughter does and not speak up about if it
is wrong? Lying, cheating, stealing, cussing, or even something as horrible as
rape? Would you not speak against this? Or would you just love them and say
that your love for them would never end and they can do whatever they
please. Does that sound ridiculous? I hope so, but that's exactly
how many are stating that God is like.
The author of Hebrews makes things very clear about how God views us, as
Christians. He mentions in chapter 12, "In your struggle against
sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood."
So first of all, there is a struggle against sin. Even for Christians? I would
argue that it is even tougher for Christians because now Satan wants to destroy your character and witness to others. In Ephesians we are told to put on the armor of God. Why is that?
Because struggling against sin is what we are called to do. It is part of our
fight for sanctification, our struggle to glorify God on Earth.
Hebrews 12 goes on by quoting Proverbs by saying, "My son, do not make
light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts
as his son." And he also mentions, "If you are not
disciplined--and everyone undergoes discipline--then you are not legitimate,
not true sons and daughters at all." So God does care to make
sure we do the right thing? I guess he does because why else would he
discipline us? So the Christian life is a struggle and includes
discipline from God constantly. Do we still have the freedom to do what
we want? We do...but Paul warns us about this in Galatians. Chapter
5:15-18 speaks on this. "So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not
gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary
to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in
conflict with each other, so that you are not do whatever you want. But if you
are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."
We are not under the law, but we are led by the Spirit. We are told
not to do whatever we want, but to do what is right, with the guidance of the
Holy Spirit. This is key. So there is a right or wrong that
Christians should follow because we are either subject to the law of Man or the
law of God. We are either slaves to one or slaves to the other. Do
not let sin be your master(Romans 6).
We cannot let society define right and wrong. It will fail us every time (Romans
1). Our stance as Christians is based on God's word, The Bible, because
we have been called to fight a battle against sin and against Satan, not
against people. And the toughest battle is not against others, it is
against ourselves (Romans 7). We are to seek God in everything we do and read
His word daily. Trust that He will guide you and direct you to the right
answers. We are to love, but with
compassion and truth. Jesus spent most
of his time with sinners, but he never once justified their actions. Let us
live like this as well. Knowing that we cannot be okay with sin, but nor can we
expect others to understand how we live if they do not know God yet. We have to remember that the mind governed by
the flesh is hostile to God, it does not want to nor is it able to submit to God’s
law (Romans 8:7).
So let us not speak of God's love without also holding firm to what is right
and wrong. If there is no need of repentance from sin, there is no need of a
Savior.
