How Familiar Are We?

Tonight I sat with my children on the couch reading to them from the book of Mark.  We've been reading through the Gospel again going through short passages and then talking about them.  I love that my children are at an age now that we can have these great discussions.  So tonight we read the first six verses of Mark 6:

"Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing?  Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith."

I've read this passage many times and heard messages on this text.  I've even heard my husband teach on this text.  Tonight while I read it, it felt like the proverbial light bulb went off in my head.  The townspeople were too familiar.  

What does that mean?  It means they thought they had Jesus all figured out already.  They knew him.  He was a carpenter, a son, a brother.  He was the kid who grew up in their village.  He was the child conceived out of wedlock.  He wasn't anything special.  And, yet, now He returns.  And before He returned, news of Him came back.  Miracles.  Healing.  Hundreds of followers.  You can imagine their surprise.  Jesus?  Mary's boy?

So when He shows up and starts speaking with the authority of God, they have a hard time accepting this new image.  They instead choose to be offended with Him for putting on airs.  What happens next is surprising--Jesus is limited in His ability to do miraculous things there.  The text tells us it is their lack of faith that caused this problem.  It really hit me--we can limit God's power?  Is this really true?

I started putting these ideas together as I talked with my kids tonight.  The people of His hometown were too familiar.  They couldn't accept the real Jesus.  They had an understanding of Him and were unwilling to let it change.  Because of this, they missed out big time on what He could do in their lives.  They stopped the miraculous.   What about us?

Have we gotten too familiar?  Do we think we have Jesus figured out?  And, as a result, are we limiting God's work in our lives?  I told my kids that we need to remember that when we read our Bibles, we should come realizing that we don't have Jesus (or His Word) figured out completely.  There's always more to learn.  When we have faith in the seemingly impossible situations, our faith opens doors to a reality that we can't even imagine (Ephesians 3:20).  

I love that my God is a big God.  I love that my mind cannot wrap itself around His awesomeness.  With that truth in my heart, I want to always approach His Word with reverence knowing that the Word is powerful and living.  I want to approach every situation in my life with faith knowing that God might be doing a new thing and I don't want my seeming familiarity make me miss out on what could be an eternal, life-changing event.

Lord, help us never come to you with anything but reverent wonder.  Let our faith change our lives and then change the lives of others!

Doing a New Thing

A few months ago, we had a few seniors at Master's Academy give their testimonies focusing on what God has done in their lives during their schooling time.  One of the students whom I won't name since I didn't get permission ahead of time, spoke of her struggles with moving to Vero Beach.  They were comfortable at the home they lived in previously, and she couldn't understand why God would uproot them from a good place to take them somewhere else.  There were other things she mentioned, but at the end she said that she came to understand that she had to allow God to do a new thing in her life.  I remember being struck with the wisdom of that statement.  How many of us have struggled when God has started a new thing in our lives? New is uncomfortable. It is strange and unpredictable.  New experiences require things like trust and faith.  We cannot rely on our experiences and knowledge when we go into new territory, and I believe it is this very thing that makes new things both highly avoided but also highly needed.

This struggle with the avoidance of change is a plague to the church too.  That might sound a bit harsh, but it really is true.  The church doesn't want a new thing.  It wants to do what it's always done, and this mindset is keeping us from getting involved in the new thing God is doing right now.  And we will miss it if we're not careful.  

Back when the church was getting its start, they had a similar decision to make.  It seems like a non-issue to us who aren't 1st century Jews, but the decision to allow Gentiles to become believers was a huge decision for them.  Part of their spiritual identity was the fact that the Jewish people were the chosen people--set apart.  They were to be so different from their pagan neighbors that they would stand out.  This separation had two results: it helped them see that God was different from the pagan gods, and, unfortunately, it caused them to miss God's vision for the pagan people.  Repeated throughout the OT is God's beautiful vision of the the Jews being a light to the pagan people so that they too may believe.  Those great statements were faded out in the light of the special position of being chosen.  They took great pride in this distinction, and in their ability to follow God's law (in contrast to the pagans).  

When Jesus came on the scene, He threw everything they thought they knew into a confusing mess.  He healed on the Sabbath; He dined with sinners; He helped Roman officials, He told stories where the bad guys were the heroes; He touched the unclean; and He basically told them everything they thought they knew about following God was wrong.  He was there to change things, and they did not like it one bit.  In Mark 2:18-22, some people questioned Jesus as to why His disciples did not fast like the other groups did (meaning John's disciples and the pharisees).  He explained that this wasn't the time for fasting, but then goes on to explain what was at the root of their question.  Why wasn't He (and his disciples) behaving the way everyone thought they should?  The answer was simple.  God was doing a new thing.

"No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.  And no one puts a new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins."  Mark 2:21-22

Bottom line is this, when God does something new, we just won't be able to fit it into our old way of thinking. We're going to have to change.  We're going to have to give up the way we think things should be done, and, using the Word of God as our guide, we are going to have to go into uncharted territories and live a life of adventure.  


The early church had to understand this, and we have to understand it now too both as a church and as believers.  (For more thoughts on how the church is changing, read Ed Stetzer's "The State of the Church in America: Hint: It's Not Dying")

Why I Don't Wear a Bikini (but don't care if you do!)

I must admit I feel a little weird writing this about this topic because of the delicate nature of the topic, but I've noticed the last few months that I've spoken about this topic several times with friends and even my students, and I wanted to go ahead and put my thoughts into writing.  Now, before I begin, let me say very clearly that I totally do not judge women who choose to wear a bikini.  It's definitely a gray area and not a hill I'd choose to die on, but there really are a few background issues that I do feel strongly about.

Throughout history, women have often been required to follow a forced modesty.  The standards for modesty were extremely strict and any infractions were enforced severely.  There was shame attached to the female body that never should have happened.  However, in the last forty years or so, there has been a dramatic shift in society's standard.  In reaction against the previously forced modesty, a new, unforeseen development has arisen.  Forced sexuality. 

What do I mean by this term?  I mean that now many women equate beauty with sexuality. I  mean that teens and pre-teens and, God help us, 7-9 year olds believe that the clothing that makes them attractive are short shorts, bikinis, and strapless dresses.  

In short, where women were judged harshly for showing too much (or any) skin in the past, now a woman may feel less than when she doesn't show skin.  And I think this idea (though definitely not encompassing all women) is affecting women and little girls.  It's the age old idea that the best thing we have to offer is our bodies, instead of our minds, our hearts, our spirits.  And that makes me mad.  Because that is still bondage.  Bondage with more choices than before, but bondage nevertheless.

I must admit that I never really thought so deeply about this until I had daughters--two wonderful, beautiful daughters who, like most females, care about how they look and how they are perceived (even at four and eight!).  And when I look at the clothes being sold for them and the clothes being worn by girls on TV, I get nervous.  What if they believe that's all there is to being a woman?  What if they become insecure like me?

I spent all of my teen years obsessing with my appearance.    When I became a Christian, I felt instantly free from that pressure.  I threw out all of my makeup and just wore baggy t-shirts and jeans.  Over time, I realized that beauty isn't something wrong.  God created it!  I realized that I was allowed to want to be attractive.  However, when I started thinking that way it brought up a huge amount of drama that I wasn't expecting.  And why the drama?  Because it was so hard to believe that I could be beautiful without exuding sexuality.  

So what does this all have to do with bikinis?  I don't wear bikinis for the same reasons I don't wear many other types of clothes.  One, I'm way too conscious of my body in a bikini.  Yes, I'm skinny, but I'm not perfect.  Every time I bend over, I'm thinking of how my belly looks when the muscles collapse (hey--I've had three kids).  I'm. Not. Comfortable.  

Two, I want my daughters to see that their mother thinks it's wise to cover her body.  When my daughters are teenagers, I don't want them to say "Well, you wear one!" when I say that the Brazilian-cut string bikini is not a good idea.  I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking ahead on this one.  

Three, I desperately want to learn that as I grow older and my muscles get flabbier and my skin gets wrinklier that I still have something valuable to offer the world.  That I can still look beautiful (because let's be honest ladies, being beautiful is still important) without looking like I'm twenty.  

So this brings me to my last point.  We have a choice.  If a woman wants to wear a bikini, that's totally fine with me.  But, at least for one moment, I hope we will stop and ask ourselves, "Why do I really want to wear this?" 


FYI:  Jessica Rey's "The Evolution of the Swim Suit" is one of my favorites for an interesting perspective on bathing suits!  Check it out!

David's Song of Praise

"I will love You, O Lord, my strength.  The Lord is my rock and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies."  Psalm 18:1-3

David penned this psalm "on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul."  This entire psalm is found in 2 Samuel 22:1-51, and the preceding chapters (and the context for the psalm) speaks of the death of Saul who had been trying to kill him for some time and (many years later) David's victory over the Philistine giants (the family of Goliath).  As you can imagine, these were pretty important events. 

As a quick recap, David was the youngest of seven sons.  He was a shepherd and musician who spent most of his days out in the wilderness protecting sheep.  That is until the Philistine Goliath showed up--a nine foot, well-trained soldier who laughed and taunted the Israelites and their God demanding that they send forth their own champion to challenge him.  The Israelites were paralyzed with fear.  David came on the scene and was shocked that the Israelite people would allow this uncircumcised man to mock their God.  David's mind was full of the remembrance of the deeds of God both in the past and in his own life.  He knew that God would show up once again for His name's sake.  The Israelites, however, looked at this situation and forgot all that happened before and were terrified.  We all know the rest of the story of how David forsook the conventional form of protection (namely armor and a sword) and instead approached Goliath with faith and some rocks.  In a matter of moments, the giant that had plagued them was conquered and beheaded.  This mighty feat brought David into the limelight and soon King Saul had David as a part of his royal retinue.  The hand of God upon David was obvious, and he was successful in all that he did; it wasn't long before Saul's admiration turned to envy.  For eight long years, Saul pursued David and tried to kill him while David hid out in the mountains with those who would follow him.  Many times, David had the opportunity to end the struggle and the hiding and the running.  But David refused.  Was he weak?  Was he foolish?  No.  He respected God and His anointing so much that he would not, could not, touch a man who had been anointed by God to be king.  Not even to save his own life.  In the end, it would be the Philistines who killed Saul, and David would mourn his loss.  2 Samuel 21 brings us forward many years.  Years in which David has made decisions that hurt many people--decisions that brought death to the innocent, that brought chaos to his family, that brought shame to his home.  He comes full circle in this chapter to face giants again--the family of Goliath--but this time he needs help; in four separate battles both David and his men fight and kill the remaining the men of Goliath's family.    

I find it interesting that David's psalm of praise includes the deliverance from the hand of Saul even though that had happened many years previous to the victory that he just experienced.  I think its telling that David was so good at keeping close the memory of all God's deliverances in his life and not just the ones that happened recently.  Perhaps it was this ability that enabled David to wait the eight long years of his exile with hope and not impatience.  He knew that he knew that he knew that God would move on his behalf because he'd seen it before.  He could wait because he knew he wasn't forgotten. Let's look again at the opening lines to his psalm:

"I will love You, O Lord, my strength.  The Lord is my rock and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies."  Psalm 18:1-3

When he thought of the Lord, the following words came to his mind: love, strength, rock, deliverer, trust, shield, salvation, stronghold, saved.  David responded to the victory he experienced by recognizing who was behind the victory.  He put his thoughts into words--words that would later even be used by future worshippers to use in their own times of thanksgiving.   

What words come to your mind when you think of God?  Are they words like David's or instead do you get words like duty, expectation, disappointment, restriction, even fear?  

I think a lot of our difficulties with God comes from a lack of understanding of His heart.  You see, David blew it big time, and on many occasions, and yet he never let this keep him from coming to God again and again.  And on those occasions when he was called out for his sin, his immediate response was humility and repentance.  I think it's because he really got God's heart for him.  He even saw God's heart for Saul which was why he refused to intervene.  When we understand God's loving mercy towards us, it is then, and only then, that we can offer that same mercy towards others.  

"Great deliverance He gives to His king, and shows mercy to His anointed, to David and his descendants forevermore."  Psalm 18:50

Let's summarize the main points here:
1) Our confidence in God is best reinforced when we continually remember God's work in the past in our lives, in the lives of other believers, and in the Bible.
2) We need to reaffirm our confidence in God with words.  Don't just think it--say it!
3) We are able to show mercy to others (in other words give people the time to be dealt with by God) when we realize how much mercy we are receiving.

Keep On Keeping On

This last week in my Sunday school class we began the book of Daniel.  I love the book of Daniel because, bottom line, Daniel is awesome.  He is cool, calm, and collected; he's wiser than any other wise man; and, like Joseph, this man can interpret dreams and visions.  But how did he become so amazing?  Did he wake up one day and God said, "Today's the day for you to become somebody!" and, bang, Daniel suddenly became the great man we read about.  Sounds silly when we say it like that, but I think it's easy for us to think that people are either great or they aren't.  It's harder to see that greatness is more of a process.  Let's take a closer look at Daniel to see how it really works.

In Daniel 1, we open with the the Babylonians conquering Judah and taking away the best and the brightest.  As part of the process of assimilation, the Babylonians would take the smart, the noble, the good-looking and train them to serve in their governments.  Daniel was one of these individuals.  So Daniel, and three of his friends, were taken from their homes and families and taken to their enemy's homeland to be trained to be servants.  Daniel was probably about 16 years old.  I can't imagine how horrifying it must have been to see your home destroyed and then taken captive to serve your enemies.  In my Sunday school class, I asked my class to imagine how we would feel if Muslim terrorists overthrew America then took some of us back with them to train us to serve them.  It would be bad enough to be conquered but taken away from friends and family and home to be a slave?  It can't get much worse than that.  

So when we encounter Daniel in chapter 1 verse 8, we'd expect to find a bitter Daniel.  A Daniel who would think that his God had failed him and that He either couldn't help or, even worse, wouldn't help.  That's not a God he'd be worried about pleasing, would he?  However, this isn't Daniel's attitude at all; in verse 8, we read, "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself."  Daniel, in the midst of the worst situation possible, decides to keep obeying the last thing he was told to do and continue to follow the dietary laws of the Jewish faith.  And, living in a pagan country where meat and wine were often offered as sacrifices to idols and then consumed, this means that Daniel is very limited in his options.  Daniel and his friends had been chosen to be trained for three years for service to the king.  Everything about their lives was being decided by other people.  They didn't choose when they woke up, what they wore, and, certainly, not what they ate.  How could he possibly honor God in this?  

However, God was not as absent as it might have seemed He was.  "Now God brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of eunuchs [the man in charge of Daniel and his friends]." (1:9)  Because God had already softened the heart of the chief eunuch, Daniel's request for a different diet for himself and his friends was not immediately rejected.  In fact, Daniel is able to convince the chief eunuch to give them a trial run and to see if, after ten days, Daniel and his friends looked healthy after eating a diet of just water and vegetables in comparison with the rich diet that the other men would be eating.  And here we have what I believe is another intervening hand of God.  Ten days of water and vegetables would have left Daniel and his friends healthy but probably not hardy.  However, verse 15 says, "And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies."

So what's the point here?  Do we really think God was overly concerned with their diet? Why was He choosing to intervene in a seemingly irrelevant decision?  The point is God was pleased with their faithfulness.  They had little control over their lives at that moment, but they were determined to be faithful.  They decided to obey even though their worlds had fallen apart and nothing made sense anymore.  In the midst of chaos, they didn't lose their bearings.  They kept on keeping on.  

"His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your lord.'" (Matthew 25:21).  

This seemingly insignificant event shows that Daniel and his friends were ready to be faithful in whatever God asked of them, and He would ask a lot.  These men men faced fiery furnaces and dens of lions and never wavered.  Where did they get that faith?  By walking faithfully with God through the small things and trusting Him to show up in the little details of their lives.  We might not be able to relate to huge steps of faith they took when standing against a pagan world bent on destroying them and their faith, but we can follow in their baby steps of faithfulness in the way we live our day-to-day lives.  

"Oh! it irradiates all our days with lofty beauty, and it makes them all hallowed and divine, when we feel that not the apparent greatness, not the prominence nor noise with which it is done, nor the external consequences which flow from it, but the motive from which it flowed, determines the worth of our deed in God's eyes. Faithfulness is faithfulness, on whatsoever scale it be set forth."  --Alexander MacLaren

The Parable of the Stupid Lizard

The other day Tracy and I noticed a white lizard in our bathroom.  Tracy tried for several minutes to catch it so that we could take it outside, but it was very hard to catch and ended up getting underneath the bathroom cabinet at which point Tracy gave up.  For several days we didn't see the lizard, so I kind of forgot about it until yesterday when he made his appearance again this time behind my laundry basket of clean clothes that I hadn't put away yet.  Aha! I thought.  This time I will get him and put him outside before he dies.  So I tried to catch him using a fly swatter because it's usually easy to get it underneath the lizard and then carry him outside.  No matter what I did to try and coax him onto the fly swatter, he would have none of it.  So I went and got a cup and thought I could use the fly swatter to push him into the cup.  I chased that stinking lizard all over my bedroom for a good half an hour before he got behind the TV stand.  It really made me mad.  All I could think was I'm trying to help you, you stupid lizard!  I'm not the bad guy.  If you keep running from me, you'll die! 

So last night I told Tracy about seeing the lizard again and we both lamented that I will probably find a dead lizard sooner or later.  Then it kind of hit me.  We are so like the dumb lizard.  You see that lizard really wanted his freedom, but he just couldn't see that I was trying to give him real freedom by releasing him outside.  His freedom will only lead to death.  
"There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 14:12

We imitate the same struggle because we run from God so afraid that He will take away our freedom, our individuality even.  The truth is that in God we actually find true freedom.  It's a paradox that in finally being captured, being a slave even, we find liberty.  However crazy that sounds this kind of reasoning is consistent with God.  He likes to do the unexpected.  

"And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."  John 8:32

Many people think that being a Christian is about following a bunch of rules concerning what we are and aren't allowed to do.  Yes, God sets perimeters for our safety, but this isn't what defines our faith.  For the first time ever, as believers, we are released from the standard of culture that defines us and we are even released from our own flesh that is never, ever satisfied.  When those incessant voices finally stop in the presence of God, we can hear like we've never heard before, see like we've never seen before, and think like we've never thought before.  We suddenly see the world from another perspective and we begin to understand our role in this big, big world in which we are not the center.  That truth brings freedom on a scale that we can't imagine.  

And I believe that like most things God gives us this freedom one step at a time.  As we walk with Him He continually works in us to give us freedom from our flesh and world.  Sometimes it really hurts.  Sometimes it makes us uncomfortable.  Sometimes we cannot see how in the world this can end up for good and we have to just trust.  But when we do trust, we eventually see how God is transforming us from glory to glory.  

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18

Looking back over my life, I can see how I've gained freedom in areas of my life mainly from struggling.  I have a good friend with whom I regularly discuss this.  When we are confronted with a trying experience that really targets one of our weaknesses (like fear), we comfort one another by repeating the truth, "This is for freedom's sake."   I have to ask myself:  Am I willing to let God do what is necessary to bring me there?  What about you?

To Judge or Not To Judge

There are two sides to a very complicated dilemma that have been plaguing our faith from its inception, so much so that even Jesus spoke on it.  "Judge not, that you not be judged,"Jesus said in Matthew 7:1.  There is probably no other verse that has caused so much confusion than this verse right here.  For the sake of understanding the whole picture, let's include the following few verses:
"Judge not, that you not be judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye' and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Matthew 7:1-5

I've had people quote the first verse to me as an accusation against Christians.  The Bible says you cannot judge--you are a hypocrite! You cannot tell people what you think is right or wrong.  The truth is that we cannot function in this world unless we have some standard of right and wrong and that we evaluate the world by this.  Everyone does this, so there's no point calling a person a hypocrite about it.  The fact that anyone calls someone a hypocrite is proof itself, since they are calling upon a standard of right and wrong.  So whether or not we should "judge" is hardly the issue.  The issue of how we judge, or in what capacity, is another story altogether.    And this is what Jesus is talking about.

Because of the drama related to this topic, many Christians end up swinging between extremes--being harsh and judgmental and evaluating others according to the standards they stand firm on or being so full of grace that they have no standards whatsoever.  As my husband likes to term it, he says we are either pharisees or pagans.  Pharisees have taken it upon themselves to determine what is right in every circumstance and then hold everyone to that standard.  Pagans avoid confrontation even if it unintentionally allows others to fall into lifestyles that are dangerous and sinful.  As you can imagine, neither of these models is biblical.  What stands in the middle of these two extremes is the model given to us by Christ:  grace-filled correction.  And it starts with this passage of Scripture we just read.

The word judge mentioned before can also be translated condemn.  That has a much stronger, and I believe more accurate, connotation.  Condemn not, that you not be condemned.  Looking up the word in a Bible dictionary, in this case, it is a person who has assumed the office of a judge.  This is key.  A person who has assumed the office of a judge is in essence saying "I have the authority to judge this person.  I know all of the facts in this situation, and I am unbiased enough to decide the fate of this person."  In truth, there is only one person in all creation who has the authority, the knowledge, and the objectiveness to truly judge a person's heart and that is God.  There is no other.  He alone can decide the fate of a person.  However, that doesn't mean we are to take the stance of the pagan!

This passage actually presents a stance where we are still called to evaluate our brother's actions, but with two things in mind:
1) We are motivated by actual concern for the individual. Note that Jesus refers to the person being corrected as his brother.  There is a relationship there.  There is a connection, and, therefore, a responsibility to look out for the well-being of this person. 
2) We have first checked our own hearts, intents, and actions.  Before you can lovingly correct someone, you better make sure you aren't guilty yourself.   

In order to truly be salt in this world, there are times when we will need to call someone out on some things, and there will be times when we ourselves will need to be called out on  some things also.  This is called relationship and accountability.  No one can stand aloof and say that they can do this on their own.  We have blind spots to our own sin that will ruin us if we don't have help.  And, on the flip side, we have a responsibility to help our brothers and sisters if we see them making decisions that are dangerous for them.  And, sometimes, we have a responsibility to remove ourselves from people who continue to make decisions that are not in line with Scripture.  Not because we are better than them.  Not because we no longer care.  But because in the long run, it is better for them to just reap the consequences of their decisions and come to the conclusion that Christ's way is better on their own.  But this is always with the understanding in mind that it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4).

With this in mind, the Bible has a message to both the pharisee and the pagan:

Pharisee--you are not always right.  Your strong stances can lead to an unforgiving spirit which will not be tolerated.  You will be judged the way you are now judging (Matthew 18:21-35).  Remember the compassion and grace of God.  Let His own mercy towards you compel you to love others in the same way (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).  Be motivated to help people where they are right now allowing them to travel along the path God has intended for them in His own timing bathing them in prayer (Ecclesiastes 3:11 and Ephesians 6:18).

Pagan--you are not always right.  What you think is love is really fear of confrontation.  You think by not taking a stand, that you are imitating grace.  Your grace is a cheap grace and has no value at all.  God's grace cost Him His only Son.  This grace is the grace that saves, that never gives up, that pursues with complete dedication with the hope that not one will be lost (1 Corinthian 13).   If you really believe in love, then sacrifice yourself for others by telling them the truth they must hear in order to be saved (Romans 10:17).  

We will be both of these people at different times in our lives, and, hopefully, we will also be like the Christ-figure:  where mercy and truth meet and bring true peace!

"Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed."  

Psalm 85:10

"Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, 

Write them on the tablet of your heart"  

Proverbs 3:3
"In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for iniquity; And by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil."
Proverbs 16:6