I've been thinking a lot about the need for grace in the world.
People find it so easy to condemn others. We put people into pigeon holes of our own making and condemn them sometimes for things they haven't even done.
Legalism, judging, condemning... it's all the same. Guilt and shame lock people into prisons of condemnation.
Jesus came into the world to set people free from all that stuff. Yet christians and churches continue to pour guilt and shame onto people.
In the thread on Market Place Ministry I told the story of a woman who fled from a violent husband only to be condemned by a church for being a single mother.
We need to meet people with genuine grace, accepting love, holy unconditional friendship.
Our church, New Life, has been called to minister to the broken, wounded, rejected and lonely. We can only do that with grace.
People struggle to get free from all kinds of fears and even self-loathing. As the church we need to help them find freedom in Christ.
Jesus don't go around putting labels on people. He didn't condemn them for who they were. He was honest about sin, yet managed to love even the most unlovable people.
The church must continue to do the same pouring grace on hurting wounded people.
Blessings
Keith
I agree that churches need to genuine grace, accepting love, holy unconditional friendship but I also think we need to be careful about what we think about other churches and not judge them. Just because a person feels unloved or condemned doesn't make it so. Sometimes a person is so hurt and feels unloveable that it takes alot to change it and a church can be doing the best they can and the hurting person can't receive it. Churches are only made up of people and they need grace to. Mind you I think alot of churches probably do need to evaluate how they encourage people to come to healing but if people in churches aren't healed and often don't know they need healing how do they bring it to others?
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