We had this really interesting conversation at Sr High youth group the other night...it is something that I've been wrestling with, turning over in my mind: are we as Christians being rescued from a "hell on earth" by accepting Jesus, or are we (by accepting Jesus) suddenly charged with doing our part to clean things up down here?
I would argue the position of the American Church as a whole since my upbringing in the 80's seemed to support the first thought: the world is a mess, we accept Jesus, we know that he will one day return to set everything right, so we're kind of sticking things out until the fireworks start.
But I am seeing a growing trend in the "post-modern" church that is advocating for us as Christians to be more involved in social issues, whether it be feeding the poor or recycling. This of course sounds like a great idea, but I think this idea can be taken to an extreme. Is our call truly to rescue trees by riding a bike to work, or should we be more concerned with The Big Two Jesus gave us - "love God and love others"? And what does "loving others" look like? Is it being nice to everyone? Or is it purposely sharing our faith in Jesus with them? If we're too pushy with our "agenda", that doesn't seem very loving, does it? But if we truly love others, don't we want them to get what we have (not mono, but, you know, salvation from sin/eternal life)?
Maybe following Jesus means all of those things. Maybe it means a bar graph with some areas being a lot taller than others.
What do you think (assuming that someone actually reads this)?
Where's GOD'S TRUTH in all of this? What does the Bible say?
Food for thought.
Let's keep the discussion going.
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To answer your question about loving others...I would say that it all goes back to what that word "love" really means. Today we see it as a fleeting emotion. We fall in and out like it's a hole in the ground or something. In Scripture it is used way to more to describe what one does (i.e. love it is active) more than how one feels.
SO I think for me to love others is to display my love for God (#1) in a way that I give of myself/sacrifice myself for others. That's the short version. I have a long version. That's my two cents!
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