Brokenness and Belonging

We’re all broken. We can all belong.

Brokenness and belonging. Who says who is broken and who can belong? One person may say they follow Christ and believe another person lives in sin because of their sexual preferences. That other person may say they follow Christ and believe the first person lives in sin because of their judgment and lack of love. Who’s right?

They’re Both Sinners. We all are.

Romans 3:23 has always been quite clear that ALL have fallen short of the glory of God. We’re all separated from Christ but not from the love of Christ. In addition to that, there’s a reason we all have to pick up our cross daily and deny ourselves. We will not be like Jesus until He comes for us. The miraculous beauty of living on this side of heaven is allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work in us as we submit every area of our lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ every day. Others will see that work and love active in us and come to Him.

Secondly, let’s admit that both parties here are not acting in love. Paul tells us that the most important thing is love. Love is not easily offended and overlooks wrongs. That doesn’t mean we close our eyes to sin but that we love first and out of that can be as iron sharpening iron to one another. The first person was alienating the other due to their sexual preferences. The second person was judging the other person’s judginess. Both individuals have things in their life (surely much more than we see here) that they need to lay at the feet of Jesus daily. Both individuals have to deny the natural tendencies in them that the Word of God tells us can separate us from Him.

Of course that’s hard. The first person may have a strong tendency to be a rule follower and need to lay down the pride of that to meet people where they’re at and love them. The second person may indeed be “born that way” and need to deny those urges to find a better way. We all have our stuff. We’re all born into sin – we can’t help it. No one is better than another. This is not a post about what the Word calls sin or what He doesn’t call sin. It’s a post to tell us we all have it wrong, but that we can all get it right through Jesus.

But I’m Not Wrong

You think I’m not following Christ fully. I think you’re not. We’re both right. Let’s help each other while letting the Holy Spirit reign our tongues in. Let’s love like Jesus. Let’s find a more excellent way. You may say, “but I don’t believe I’m living in sin”. You deceive yourself. Let the Word of God read you. It’s not for you to decide what is and isn’t sin. It’s for you to say your next best yes to Jesus. It’s for you to ask Jesus every day to reveal things in your heart and life you need to confess.

Now What?

Now, if you would do me the great honor of clicking all the blue worded links in this post to read them and pray about them with God, I would be ever so grateful. Let’s meet each other where we’re at. People are gonna make us cranky. But we must remember the natural things within us that are not of Christ. We must be humble. We must join hands with others and move forward. We must make room for each other.