"Pray for those who use you"; "Turn the other cheek"; "Don't repay evil with evil"; "Blessed are the peacemakers"; "Blessed are the merciful"; "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." --Jesus' commands in preparation for our roles as ambassadors for Him
In an effort to get her boys to stop eating the core of the apples she gave them, a young mother finally told them the apple seeds in those cores were poison, and if they swallowed one of them they would die. To her delight, no more cores were consumed. Weeks later, however, one of the boys accidentally swallowed a seed while eating an apple, and immediately panicked. Racing across the street to where his mother was chatting with a neighbor, he frantically described what had just happened. Surprised and hurt when she continued to chat nonchalantly with the neighbor, the young boy blurted out: "I swallowed a seed, I swallowed a seed; you said if I did it would kill me!"
Incredibly, the mother's reply froze the young boy: "Well", she said, "I guess we'll find out." With that, she ushered the boy away, leaving him to slowly discover on his own over the next hour that apple seeds were not deadly.
I think of this story often when I read or hear about incidents where people who call themselves Christians act in hurtful ways. Having tasted grace, Christians simply cannot be excused for hateful attitudes, hurtful comments or acts that cause pain in others. When we take on this title---Christian---we become ambassadors for Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul tells us. It means the world around us expects us to be more compassionate than they expect others to be. It means Jesus expects us to be more compassionate than He expects others to be.
Like the mother in the opening story, we have an outsized and traumatic effect on people when our compassion is absent; and it never honors God.
Certainly we agree it is dishonorable and un-Christlike when people picket at soldiers' funerals while purporting to honor Christ. That's "low-hanging fruit" in the effort to prune from our ranks those who hurt the Kingdom of God by their hateful activity.
Harder to recognize, however, but just as grievous to God, are those times when the rest of us hurt others with our attitudes and our actions-even if we're provoked or persecuted. Jesus will not tolerate swords of righteousness waved at sinners or hateful words tossed at illegal immigrants. He will not reward Christians who strike out at the weak and poor because they threaten our financial security or insult our work ethic---and He will raise up like a vengeful Judge when we use His name or His commands to visit violence on those with whom we disagree or or of whom we disapprove.
We who know the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ must move heaven and earth---must change our very natures---to communicate the hope we have in Christ---hope represented by His love and long-suffering forgiveness.
The arrogant and sinful will find themselves humbled soon enough, bowing to He who would have been their Savior but who is then their judge, and their hearts will rock with the terror of that hour. But Jesus longs to give them every chance to change that terrible destiny, and His assignment to us is to bring them to His throne, not to drive them away.
Let our words and deeds honor not just the Christian whose fellowship we cherish, but also those who hate and abuse us and our Savior. May we live worthy of the Name.
--Randy Kilgore
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