It always saddens me when I observe Christians disagreeing on what “our” biggest “cause” should be. While we all have different callings we can never afford to get so caught up in that one calling that we forget our true calling, our one and only calling and that is to bring others to Christ. I was recently reading a blog site where abortion and what to do about it as Christians was being heavily debated…and I responded as follows:
I do not believe in abortion and I also do not believe in drinking or doing anything that leads to an addictive lifestyle. I would wager to say that alcohol and alcoholism has taken many more innocent lives and either killed them or destroyed them than abortion.
I just worked with a couple yesterday where alcoholism runs rampant in their family and stretches back generations. The husband in this case is bi-polar, OCD and an addict, his dad is severely depressed, his mom is obsessive compulsive, his sister is bi-polar with a drinking problem all three of his kids are bordering on pyshcological problems. The wife is a co-dependent mess and a child of an alcoholic and she came running to my wife and me because she has nowhere to turn. We talked to them about what they needed to do in order to allow God to heal them. Never once did I think about going to establisments that sell alcohol and picketing them because they’ve destroyed yet another family. Instead I choose to work with those who have been affected by it by leading them to the answer. I also choose to educate those who haven’t yet been affected by it by introducing them to the answer and warning them of the destructive nature of the beast. I cringe everytime I hear someone joke about alcohol and treat it casually. I feel the same way when someone acts that way toward abortion.
Picketing, yelling, ranting and raving is simple and I am sure it makes one feel fulfilled…”yeah look at me, I am standing up for a cause.” But spending real time with a person and choosing to be a part of their transformation takes time, patience and love and it brings little or no attention to the person lending the guidance. I’ve yet to read anything about Jesus telling us to picket and use force to make our point.
I believe we are to try to emulate our role model Jesus in all we do. He came here to talk to us about possibilities and what we can do in order to lift the heavy burden of the law which focused purely on what we could not do.
A sin is a sin is a sin. I have found it much easier to lead another sinner to Christ if I talk to them about what they can do instead of telling them what they can’t do.
