Mud Puddles

The other night in Bible study we were talking about the decline in the Israelite nation at the time of Jezebel. The details are just amazing and unbelievably sad. It is difficult to comprehend the tremendous amount of evil that people participated in. As the discussion continued we began to see many parallels between then and now. It doesn't take long to see the unbelievable amount of evil around us everyday. How sad to see what God's marvelous creations have become!

The talk then turned to the trend that seems to be running through many churches in the US today... to share grace and show love, but neglect the need for repentance. It seems that many are desiring to share God's love with the multitudes, but they are not sharing God's law. How is it possible to truly know how much you need Christ if you never display a repentant heart? Why would anyone let Christ transform them if there is nothing wrong with their current choices? (Romans 12:2)

During the discussion, this analogy came to my mind:
Someone living in unforgiven sin appears to me like someone living in a mud puddle. They can live there contently and have been living there for years, probably their entire life. It is true that Christ loves them right where they are. He loves them even though they are covered in mud. He loves them and died for them, just like He died for all of us...no matter where we are.

Here is the part that seems to be missing to me:
Jesus may love you in the mud, but He loves you too much to leave you there. He has clean water available for you over here. His love for you is so great that He desires to take you from the mud and place you in a sparkling clean puddle. His love is transforming and life changing, otherwise, what really is the point?

The group agreed with my analogy, but expressed concern with being labeled as a "hater" or as "intolerant" or "judgmental." We shared the need to get to know people, to build a relationship with them and then out of LOVE to speak the truth. (Ephesians 4:15) When you approach someone with genuine concern and confront their sin, you are doing it because you love them.....not because you are judging them. It is not our spot to judge, but if we truly love someone should we just leave them sinking in the mud?

Think about our children. It is true that there comes a time when our influence on our children is limited and they truly are making their own choices. But, if we have trained them to look carefully at their options we shouldn't fear because we know that they are God's precious children and that He loves them even more than we do. However, if you see your child falling into the mud, are you just going to sit back and watch? Or, are you going to reach out and help them? We all know that we would do our best to speak to our children out of genuine love and concern to help them see how far they are moving from God's will for their life. We wouldn't sit back and watch them live in the mud. Why is it any different with our friends and neighbors?

Let's work hard to grow to a place of genuine love for our neighbor and then with God's abundant love helping us, we can speak the Truth in Love and help them to see their need to get out of the mud. Although we and Christ love them just where they are, we both love them too much to leave them in the mud puddle!