On Relationships:
“Our relations to others cannot be right unless we see those others in their relation to God. Through others he comes to us and we only really find others when we see them in him.”
Dallas Willard, The Renovation of the Heart
Reflection:
It’s so easy to see the worst in others. Rather than see how people reflect God, we focus on how they have hurt us or those we care about. Yet, God invites us to see people as he sees them: his dearly loved children. He sees us the same way. We dehumanize them when we fail to see God’s reflection in them. It reminds me of Jesus’ sermon on the mount: we dehumanize them by killing them with the anger in our hearts (Matthew 5:21-26). We dehumanize them when we objectify and lust after them in our hearts (Matthew 5:27-30). Instead, God invites us to see people as he does, as his dearly loved children who warrant our love and respect. That’s something I struggle to realize more than I’d like to admit.
On grace:
“Many Christians have the mistaken notion that grace is a variety of Christian niceness or tolerance. Even a cursory reading of Paul’s letter to the Galatians ought to dismiss such superficial ideas. Grace can result in niceness, but in fact is not itself niceness. Some think that grace means ‘not judging,’ by which they mean ‘not telling anybody they are sinning’ (or at the least, hemming and hawing around a way of telling them that). But grace compels righteous judgments and biblical discernments. Grace can result in furious anger (as we see in Galatians) because it is motivated by love, and this means grace might look like making sure a wife beater is in jail and a paroled child molester is never left unsupervised. These severe mercies are acts of grace to victims but also to offenders, as they help sinners not sin. That is grace too.”
Jared C. Wilson, The Pastor’s Justification
Reflection:
When we offer faux grace (to ourselves or others), we relieve ourselves of any responsibility and invite others to experience surface-level forgiveness. When we avoid sharing the impact of sin with others, it gives them a false sense of confidence and emboldens them in their sin. When we offer forgiveness without inviting repentance, there is little (felt) need for change. Yet, in this area, the Bible is clear on two things: 1) that those in Christ are called to live out their identity as a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 2:20) and 2) that grace doesn’t give license to sinners to continue sinning (Romans 6:1-2, Galatians 5:1). To the adulterous woman, Jesus said, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:1-11). True grace invites the sinner to repent.
For more on this topic, read my article: The True Cost of Grace.
On watering down the Gospel:
“God forgive us for all those we have lost because we made the gospel boring. I am convinced that if we lose kids to the culture of drugs and materialism, of violence and war, it’s because we don’t dare them, not because we don’t entertain them. It’s because we make the gospel too easy, not because we make it too difficult. Kids want to do something heroic in their lives, which is why they play video games and join the army. But what are they to do with a church that teaches them to tiptoe through life so they can arrive safely at death?”
Jesse Colburn, pastor of Move City Church
Reflection:
I love this! The Gospel invites us to step up and challenge ourselves and the generations to follow. We don’t have to water the Gospel down to make it accessible; the Holy Spirit will do that for us. Instead, we should invite people to join the ranks and be a part of a generation of change for the sake of Christ!