Sam’s Philosophy

I’ve been having a lot of really good conversations with my friends and family lately about all the nonsense in the world and how we as Christians should react to it. With the country becoming so polarized, it can be hard for us to figure out where to fit in, what to stand for, and how to defend the Bible and show love to others. 

The truth of the matter is, we as Christians cannot fully support all republican or democratic values and stances. We don’t fit into the two-party system. But we also realize that God can work through good leaders and bad leaders and no one is appointed to a position of authority without His say so. And ultimately, the things that happen here on earth are of little importance in the grand scheme of eternity.

But still. We are here on this earth. We want to make a difference. We want to stand up for what we believe in. We want to preach God’s name. We want to fulfill our mission. So how can we realistically do that without getting all tied up in the mess of these polarizing issues plaguing our country? 

We were discussing this with our small group friends a few weeks ago. We were discussing topics like sex before marriage and homosexuality. We were struggling because a lot of us grew up with strict teachings on those subjects, if they were even brought up at all. But these days, you can’t just pretend these things don’t exist. We need to talk about them and have the right Godly response to them. 

Here’s where my friend Sam stepped in. Now Sam is a Bible genius. He says words like “exegetical” and can make deep, theological topics sound so approachable and simple. This is one of those times. At the time, we were just having casual conversation; it wasn’t even a Bible study night. It was just pasta! But what he said really struck me. I immediately tweeted it because it was so profound, and now, months later, I feel the need to write more on it because it was so great. It’s how I want to live my life and how I want to broach these subjects and how I want to interact with others. Here’s my paraphrase of what he said…

Christians are constantly trying to find the perfect middle between judgement and grace, legalism and license. But we will never find it. We will either be too harsh on someone who is sinning and could turn them away from the church or Christ, or we will be too easy on someone and end up tolerating sin. The only one who can perfectly give us judgement and grace is Jesus. He is the middle of that spectrum. We will never find that perfect balance. But as for me, I’d rather err on the side of grace.

Wow! Isn’t that true?? The Westboro Baptists of the world are definitely erring on the side of judgement. They are yelling at college students that they’re all going to hell. And they are not doing much good for God’s Kingdom, in my opinion. Others are accepting of everything, looking past their friends with addictions and real sin because God loves and forgives everyone so it’s fine. This isn’t helpful either, because there needs to be repentance and reformation. I’d like to stay near the middle, of course, but like Sam said, absolute perfection is impossible. The only perfect person to walk this earth was Jesus Christ, so we will fail time and time again. But let’s try to be more gracious, more loving, more compassionate, more forgiving, because the two greatest commandments are love God and love others.

I encourage you to think about this next time you are faced with one of those polarizing issues in the world today. Next time you speak with someone who disagrees with you. Maintain your faith and stand up for the Gospel, but err on the side of grace, so that all God’s children can see His love through you.