Repent….in love

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Do you love someone enough to tell them the truth? Do you love someone enough to call them out on their sin, even if you are accused on being judgmental or even condescending? Are you willing to sacrifice what others think of you, because God laid on your heart a ministry of repentance? Many times we might answer yes at first, until the deeper probing questions are asked. It may be easy for us to sit in judgement, but how will we be judged? The Bible tells us we are judged as we judge. Luke 6:37 “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” There is so much depth in those words of Jesus; so much to how we treat and view others; even as kids we are taught the parable of how we are to treat others as though we wish to be treated. These words of Jesus in Luke’s gospel are probing matters of the heart.

Our minds are so wrecked with sin, judgment seems to almost be an unconscious act on our part. We walk about in public forming opinions on those we see, seemingly casting judgment without even so much as many times speaking a word. We hide our judgment, hate, racism, lust, fear, any emotion that we judge in our thoughts, but we have cast judgment. I do not know at what point this level of sin, hidden sin, is cast aside by the love of God that indwells our hearts. In my humble “opinion,” it is a work of sanctification that God does for the remainder of our lives. I can only look within myself, and confess to my own struggles, but by God’s grace he has bestowed upon me a level of love for my fellow man I did not possess before. That doesn’t mean I still think the same thoughts as you do, have the same struggles as you, and consistently repent of all the same thoughts and sins as you do. James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

God may call you like me to an uncomfortable ministry, where repentance is foundational. I know he called me to those of us that proclaim Christianity, but are headed to hell from living a lie. He called me to challenge the Christian, to ask the tough questions that nobody wants to ask. How are you living as a result of proclaiming Christ? How will you answer that question at his feet, and what will be his judgment of your life? Repent, believe, and live your life with the evidence of your decision. Go therefore and make disciples, after you have become one yourself.