We Over-corrected
The church was heading in a dangerous direction. Casting aside love and mercy in exchange for judgment and wrath. With a message of condemnation we walked out into the world, proclaiming what may have been true, but lacking all the love of God. We spoke against the sin of men with a self righteous attitude that turned people away from our message instead of causing them to incline an ear to listen.
Then things changed.
We improved our approach.
We saw the disgrace that our methods brought upon the cause of Christ.
A generation moved to remedy the situation with a boldness and love that was beyond all others.
But somewhere in the correction, we over-corrected. In trying to swerve back onto the road, we jumped the median and headed straight for the opposite ditch. And now it is the fellow Christian that we speak to without love and mercy. Now it is our brother that we harshly discipline without the love of Christ.
Now we mock and we ridicule.
We tweet judgment. We blog satire.
And none of it glorifies God.
We over-corrected.
Your thoughts?
As someone looking in from the outside, It looks to me like someone needs to let their foot off the gas. This might help stop the swerving before a crash happens. It is especially important when you are talking about brothers and sisters. One of the life lessons that me and my siblings were taught when we grew up was that, no matter what happens, you rescue your family members. Once you get them home, you correct whatever needs to be corrected kindly at home. I'm not a fan of teaching family traditions as a matter of biblical truth, but, this one is a biblical truth.
Yo! This is addressed to the church as a whole and wasn't an implication of anything I'm currently faced with.
Looking at the entirety of Christianity though, I'm saddened by how often we speak with judgment and condemnation to those we serve along side of.
Not You you, The church you.
I think you're right. We seem to have lost sight of what true discipleship consists of, primarily Christ's love. We correct others from our platform of self-righteousness. I think we also fail to properly receive reproof. I mean, we're not only supposed to correct in Christ's love, but also to receive correction in Christ's love!
"The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise. He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, but he who heeds rebuke gets understanding." Proverbs 15:31-32
Everyone loves to correct, but who of us loves to be corrected?