Is Your Love Stronger Than Your Judgment?
By Jessica Brodie
I grew up believing Christians were wonderful human beings. Raised a churchgoer, I was taught from a young age that Jesus loves everyone, and He loves me, too. The predominant message I got as a young Christian was just that: Love. Period.
But then I got older and started encountering more judgmental members of my faith. A lot of people seemed really hung up on sin, particularly sexual sin and modesty in dress. I heard a lot about what Christians should and shouldn’t be doing—in fact, I heard a lot more about that than the Gospel itself. It made a lot of my “seeker” friends (those who were interested in Jesus but hadn’t fully embraced the idea yet) steer clear of the church altogether. As we all matured, some of my friends and coworkers did end up becoming Christians… but some did not. Disgusted by what they called a “finger-pointing mentality,” they decided they wanted no part of a church filled with judgmental Christians no matter how I tried to convince them otherwise.
But it’s not just people I know. Headlines report troubling truths. Many people, particularly millennials and members of the Gen Z generation, are turned off by Christianity because the loud and clear message they get is one of judgment, not love. It makes them not want to have anything to do with the faith. And this makes me incredibly sad, because to me, Jesus’s message is centered on love. Those of us who love Jesus and genuinely strive to follow Him eventually get with the proverbial program. We begin over time to model our lives so that we become more like Jesus. We want nothing to do with sin. But that takes some time.
Imagine Christianity is like a house with a big front door. Getting people to approach that door, turn the handle, and step inside often stems from the message they get: This house is a good place, a loving place. God loves them and wants them in His family.
The second part of being a follower of Christ, what we should or should not be doing in life after we’re part of that family, that comes later.
Why are so many people getting the message that Christianity is all about being judgmental? Is it because of all the talk we’ve been doing about the wrongs of culture and society and all the sins that are damning this world?
Trust me, I don’t want anything to do with sin. At this stage in my life, I just want Jesus to shine through me completely. I want to represent Him well.
But it took me some time for me to get to this place, this “maturity stage.”
Many of us know and dearly love John 3:16, which tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (NIV). But I wonder if we sometimes forget the verse that comes after it, John 3:17: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
As Christians, we have a job beyond ourselves: that’s sharing the Gospel with others and getting them to become part of this family, too. To do this effectively, it’s important that we consider our messaging.
There’s something very wrong when outsiders don’t even want to approach the church door because of false messaging, because they think we are a religion that’s all about judgment and condemnation, when Jesus himself said he came not to condemn the world but to save it.
I wonder what would happen if people of faith started talking more about kindness, love, mercy, and compassion than anything else.
This is not to say that it’s OK to sin—not at all! But our focus should be on the big picture, Jesus, not overcoming sin, which is the small picture. For with Jesus we naturally overcome sin—He drives out the sin and makes us, through the power of our great advocate the Holy Spirit, desire not to sin any more.
Today and the rest of this week I pray you’ll join me in shining a light of kindness and mercy and compassion and love in the name of Jesus across this world.
WANT TO HELP SPONSOR JESSICA BRODIE’S WRITING MINISTRY? CLICK HERE.
THANKS TO MY SPONSOR: MATT BRODIE.
SHARE TODAY’S BLOG ON SOCIAL MEDIA: CLICK HERE OR THE SOCIAL LINKS BELOW.