Monday Morning Insights

Photo of Todd
    .

    Acting Like Jesus:  Forgiving Your Spouses’ Killer

    Bookmark and Share

    What do YOU think?


    What if Christians really acted like Jesus? That's a thought that I've been thinking about the last week or so. Wouldn't that eliminate most all of the problems we have in today's church and ultimately, our culture? What if I really acted like Jesus in every situation? My theory: this world would be an entirely different place.

    I've heard other people say this (and I've experienced it first hand): Some of the meanest, ungodly people I've ever encountered have been in the church. It's the truth. People will do and say things in church that they would never say anywhere else. Perhaps you've encountered this as well. And if you're on a church staff, then I KNOW you've experienced this!

    Here's my theory: The biggest hindrance from many people becoming a Christian is the Christians they know. You know... but guy who cusses out the coach publicly, then runs to church drama practice to play a disciple in the church's Easter service. I could use any example here... essentially someone who isn't walking the walk or talking the talk, but acts like they are. It's a charade, and everyone knows it (except, seemingly, this person).

    But what would happen if you and I and the people in our churches started acting out the Gospel in ways that the world would see make us different? Take forgiveness for example. See this short clip with Cindy Winters, the wife of Pastor Fred Winters (who was shot just a few weeks ago while preaching at his church's first service):



    This is the kind of action that will cause her world and community to pay attention. Cindy is doing something incredibly difficult (in an extreme situation) because she knows it is the right thing to do. This is the type of response that will cause people to think that there might actually be something to this 'Christianity' stuff. My prayer today is that God will give me the strength to be like Him, even (and especially) when I don't feel like it. It may be the thing that will cause someone to take their next step toward Christ.

    Comments

    if you want a Globally Recognized Avatar (the images next to your profile) get them here. Once you sign up, they will displayed on any website that supports them.

    1. Katrina on Mon, April 06, 2009

      Todd you wrote: “What if Christians really acted like Jesus? That’s a thought that I’ve been thinking about the last week or so. Wouldn’t that eliminate most all of the problems we have in today’s church and ultimately, our culture? What if I really acted like Jesus in every situation? My theory: this world would be an entirely different place.” 


      If we preached the whole counsel of God, extolled the unapproachable holiness of God, the exceeding sinfulness of sin and practiced church discipline then we would not have people IN THE CHURCH that do not live a lifestyle worthy of our Savior.  Instead we have “megachurches” that want to please men in an effort to boast of their sizes so they never expound on these topics because they KNOW it will offend the non-believer and repel them from attending.  The true love of Jesus comes from a heart in which Jesus is enthroned.  Just because you go to church does not make you a Christian and I find it insulting to be lumped in with the actions of non-believers who are comfortably occupying the pews of so-called Christian churches.

    2. Katrina on Mon, April 06, 2009

      Also, your theory:” The biggest hindrance from many people becoming a Christian is the Christians they know. “ is theologically wrong.  People don’t becoime Christian on their own…it is a result of a divine act of God. (Eze 35:25-27; John 3:5-8) You should be more scripturally sound in your theories.

    3. Todd Rhoades on Mon, April 06, 2009

      Katrina,


      Get off of your mega-church high horse.


      Seriously.  Size doesn’t matter.


      And I grew up in churches that would have met your own criteria; and there were as big of fakes there as in the churches you hate so much today.  I saw it time and time again.


      And about my theology…let’s take it to the other extreme… it really doesn’t matter how I act when I’m a Christian cause it won’t make a bit of difference in anybody else’s life.


      Guess I’m just not feeling that deep, theological, or argumentative this morning.  Sorry.


      Todd

    4. Todd Rhoades on Mon, April 06, 2009

      PS… I hate it when people whip out the “Ezekiel card” on me so early on a Monday morning.


      Todd

    5. Nora on Mon, April 06, 2009

      Todd, thanks for sharing this with us.  Her attitude is truly beautiful and inspiring. May God grant her and her daughters peace in the weeks and months to come.


      And I absolutely agree with you that many outside of the church are turned off by the behaviors of those inside of the church. And I am convicted by memories of times when I did not “let my light shine” in the way that I should have.  Thanks for the reminder of the importance to others of our daily walk with Christ.

    6. Katrina on Mon, April 06, 2009

      Todd,


      I agree that size doesn’t matter but theology does and it is the LACK of sound theology that allows non-Christians to sit comfortably in churches because they never hear about the holiness of God.  It is the lack of sound theology that allows people to believe that salvation is OUR choice instead of an act of Almighty God.  Reproof by Scripture should cause a true Christian to repent instead of making him defensive.

    7. Brian L. on Mon, April 06, 2009

      Wow - the FIRST post in the thread is not relevant to the woman the article is about and goes right to the “evil mega-church” argument.


      Sad.


      This lady is incredible.  Only the grace of God could bring her to the point of forgiveness like this.  I also think of Elizabeth Elliot and the other widows who lost their husbands, yet went back to minister to those very people and bring them to Christ.


      About 10 years ago or so, a husband and son were burned to death in their car in India.  The wife forgave the killers, and is still there.


      Amazing!  May God grant me the same fortitude (and I pray that I will never need it…).


      I’ve always believed that hypocritical believers have been one of the biggest hindrances to people becoming Christians.  Who’d want to check out Jesus if it meant hanging out or becoming like the hypocrite?


      Katrina, God uses the truth of Scripture to bring people to Himself.  But if they reject the idea of even checking out the Scriptures because of the hypocritical behavior they see in “Christians,” then they won’t find Him.


      On the other hand, when they see Christ actually alive in a person who lives for Christ, they’re much more likely to check it out and find Christ for themselves.

    8. Katrina on Mon, April 06, 2009

      by the way…it is precisely the way you act that demonstrates the state of your heart.  Christians do sin and do things that would be deemed hypocritical by non-believers but a true Christian repents and seeks forgiveness from those they offend.  If we practiced church discipline then the number of these offenses would be diminished as would the size of the congregation.  Todd, if you are honest in your evaluation you will agree that these mega-churches are not filled with totally soldout followers of Jesus Christ and the same goes for the small churches. But if pastors would quit trying to SELL a lost world on “the wonderful plan God has for your life” and get back to preaching sin, righteousness, holiness and the grace of God in light of our sinfulness then we would have less pew warmers and more Christians in our churches.  Church services are for believers and should be centered on worshipping and praising God and not on how God can improve your life.

    9. Doug on Mon, April 06, 2009

      “...and practiced church discipline then we would not have people IN THE CHURCH that do not live a lifestyle worthy of our Savior. “


            WOW - you have got to be kidding me - you mean that you have to be worthy of Jesus BEFORE you come to church!?!?! Unbelievable! Aren’t grace and mercy through Christ what make us worth - not that of ourselves that no one could boast…


      I was saved AT church not outside of it and then brought in… the number of “sinners” we have who come to our church I guess would disqualify our church from being real (No we are not a mega-church)… but then I have to wonder about all the baptisms we have - where did those “sinners” hear the gospel? Wait, they heard it sitting in our pews..


      Katrina - you are apparently so holy that you probably just need to go on and be with the Lord because the rest of us are holding you back….


      As for the video - AMAZING - what a wonderful, deeply beautiful example of Jesus’ heart. I know that our Father must be looking on her with a great smile - she will hear - “well done my good and faithful servant” -


      But wait - wasnt the guilty man a “sinner” in the church…?


      What a beautiful expression of the love of Christ, the grace, the compassion, the love and mercy…

    10. bob on Mon, April 06, 2009

      Katrina,


      I am Reformed and believe in the whole counsel of God but you seem to be quite harsh towards mega churches.  I also want to remind us all that the gospel tells us we will suffer and maybe die for Christ,  that to me is what happened not non believers invited to mega churches.   Gal. 5 “faith expressing itself in love”

    11. Katrina on Mon, April 06, 2009

      Doug,


      I was talking about pew warmers…those people who go to church on a regular basis because they either believe they are doing God a favor or are trying to earn His favor by attending.  I invite the lost to my church all the time knowing full well that they will hear the entire Gospel message.  Some receive eternal life, some leave and never come back but all get convicted because my pastor is faithful to preach the message.  I was saved in a church as well. Invited by a Christian.  But the interesting thing is, he shared the Gospel with me before ever asking me to church. He and a couple of co-workers would have lively but friendly debates concerning Christian doctrine and it was usually within earshot.  He happened to be the interim pastor and he was faithful to preach the ugliness of sin and the beauty of the grace of God and it broke my heart.  My contention is with the lack of Scriptural preaching which makes the unconverted comfortable to continue to warm our pews while they live a life that brings reproach on the church….the so-called Christians Todd mentioned that he believes keeps others from becoming Christians. If the lost come to church, the preaching should be so Biblically sound that they are broken or they don’t come back because of the conviction of sin. They should not be made to feel comfortable.  There is a church in Zachary LA that hung a large banner near the road in front of their building…..it had a couch on it and 3 words:


      Real.


      Comfortable.


      Church.


      I think that says it all!

    12. Sgillesp on Mon, April 06, 2009

      Todd,


      My heart was already weighed down today before I saw this video, and thanks for posing the question.  I have been thinking a lot that the problem among Christians is that we have allowed ourselves - even encouraged ourselves - to act from fear (and certainly for some this story doesn’t help!).  But the scripures assure us that we will be in mortal danger in this world if we are doing what Jesus would do - but of course that we are eternally safe.  What the world needs to see is Christians living in the courage and fearlessness and peace that we would naturally live in, if we really believed what we say we do.  We would stop always scanning the horizon for the dangerous “other” and sounding the alarms all the time. There would be no correlation between gun-trusting-survivalists and Christians, or angry protestors against immigrants and Christians, or…well, you can fill in the picture.  Instead, we would fully expect God to put us in situations we never expected with people we would not like/be afraid of, in the flesh - and expect us to love them with Jesus love.   Imagine how that would surprise the world!  I’m not saying I know how to do that yet, but it seems clear as day to me that this is what the world needs to see and in failing to see it, does not see Him.

    13. Peter Hamm on Tue, April 07, 2009

      Katrina,


      You say “If we preached the whole counsel of God, extolled the unapproachable holiness of God, the exceeding sinfulness of sin and practiced church discipline then we would not have people IN THE CHURCH that do not live a lifestyle worthy of our Savior.”


      I hope you really do not believe that just right preaching and church discipline will result in a community of people who live godly lifestyles… But more than that, you seem to not want “sinners” in your church, in fact, perhaps you want to make them uncomfortable enough that they won’t want to come at all. Please send them my way, we don’t mind having very unfinished people in our church walls. They find Christ (Christ finds them) and they become some of the most amazing followers of Jesus here… I’d love to have them here…


      Also you write “ If we practiced church discipline then the number of these offenses would be diminished as would the size of the congregation.” So we want to make our churches as small as we can by kicking people out? Sounds like discipline gone horribly wrong. People are sinful, and these “offenses” you reference will continue as long as we are.


      Singling out mega-churches this way is getting really old, too…

    14. Peter Hamm on Tue, April 07, 2009

      Also, Todd writes in the original post “The biggest hindrance from many people becoming a Christian is the Christians they know.”


      On the positive side, I’ve found when you are real and loving and genuine, living your faith out in your day-to-day walking-around life, but are honest and real about where you aren’t finished yet, people “want what you have” (i.e. God uses your life to draw them, perhaps using the Holy Spirit He’s planted in you?)…


      Hearing the story about how this woman’s community of faith has rallied around her, and the way she is forgiving someone who has hurt her beyond belief… if that’s not a sign of Jesus’ love that might give people pause to learn more about who Jesus is and why somebody would follow Him like this… I don’t know what is. I’m a little surprised that a Christian like yourself, Katrina, would spend more effort poo-poo-ing megachurches than celebrating Jesus’ love in the world… in us…


      Katrina, they will know we are His followers by our great love, not by our great doctrines and discipline.

    15. Daniel on Tue, April 07, 2009

      This woman’s response is beautiful and very Christian.


      Forgiving your enemies. What a concept!


      Overcoming evil with good. What an idea!


      If only we’d seen more of this after 9/11…

    16. Page 1 of 1 pages

      Post a Comment

    17. (will not be published)

      Remember my personal information

      Notify me of follow-up comments?

    Sponsors