UnChristian Love!

Psalm 52:4, “You love any words that destroy, you treacherous tongue!”

I have talked about love before in some of my blogs, but typically it was on what love looks like in its entirety and not just the emotional level typically fixated on by the average Christian writer. I still think there is a lot to say about love from this perspective, but today I want to focus on another concept. How not to show Christian love!

You think that would be easy, right? Wrong. I am not going to get into self-debasing Christians, otherwise known as “eating our own,” because too many Christians do that today. It has become popular among certain Christians to continually criticize and point out all the flaws within Christianity. I can see it to a point, but we need to do it in a manner that also reminds them that Christianity is the answer. “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). I have looked at a lot of verses about love in the Bible and I do not see where we are to apologize in such a public forum, except to God. We are to apologize to those we sin against whether a group or a single person, but how that is to look, it appears to me, is much different at times then what comes across in a lot of “popular” writings and articles today.

With that said, I am going to apologize for the actions of someone that calls themselves a Christian and yet did exactly the opposite of what Christian love is. “And to love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:33). Of course I always ask if you treated someone the way you treat yourself, then how would it look? I want Christians, those looking at Christianity and those not considering Christianity yet to know that I apologize for the person that I am about to write about next and they do not represent true Christianity in my humble opinion, and actually represent the opposite of it.

One terrible example of this just presented itself to me. You can see the picture in the beginning of this blog of what was written. This note was left on someone’s car while they were in a store. They based their note from a bumper sticker on the car, which you can see right next to this paragraph. What kind of witness is this for the Christian faith? Instead of getting to know the driver of the car by waiting to talk, or leaving a note asking them to meet and discuss the bumper sticker; instead they leave a note with an apparent hate sentence included, “Burn in hell you demon.” Personally, I am not a fan at all of the note or the process they took as there is no real evangelism, outreach or true love in this type of note.

One question I thought of right away is, how do they know they did not just buy the car and the bumper sticker was on there and it was not taken off yet? How do you know that someone did not borrow the car for the day and you left the note for another to find (not that it makes it right)? What would that do to the person ever listening about Christianity? What if the person just lost a family member, or found out they had cancer, or was thinking about suicide and came to their car and find that note? Everything about the note reeks of hate and bile and it is uncalled for in the Christian circle. There is a big difference between holding someone accountable within the church and treating someone you do not know with such contempt. I must say that I would not treat someone in the church that way either.

Unfortunately there are those out there that will call themselves Christian and yet live a life without showing it in any real form. This is another reason why I am not a big fan of just using words, and instead we must follow it up with action. Words can be deceiving. I can say one thing to you and make it sound so encouraging and loving, but turn around and treat the same person with disdain with my actions. Which is more true, my words or actions? My actions because they demonstrate what is truly inside. We see this issue with many of the Sadducees and Pharisees in Jesus’ day, and we see it with this note writer today.

This blog is meaningless unless my actions line up with my words and I can guarantee you that I would never leave such a note on someone’s car. Since I know this person, I can tell you they would have talked about the differences in religion and done so respectfully and also in an engaged fashion. How do I know, because I have had those discussions with them over the past two years. Will we all make mistakes? Absolutely, and that is why we are to point people to Jesus and not ourselves. Let Christ deal with them in His time.

Words are important in one way for sure; they will demonstrate whether you truly line up with what you do. Like the old adage says, “actions speaker louder then words,” and seems to line up with James, which is talking about justification before the world. Instead of writing hateful notes, how about building a friendship and a dialogue about truth, another name for it – Evangelism.

James 2:19-20, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?”