If people are allowing race to get in between fellowship with another person then they have not fully understood the love of Christ.
Maybe they forgot that God redeemed men, and women from every nation, tribe and tongue, or maybe they on purpose forgot!!
Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
Rev 5:10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."
Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
Rev 5:10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."
"For God so loved the WORLD (Yes, I am yelling) that He gave His only begotten Son"!
Christianity has NO color lines and if someone can not love you as you are, the 1st thing to consider is their Christianity.
I know that will come across to some as severe and hard but folks, I am told old to care what someone thinks about what I say.
I just do not have any patience any more on this race issue. We are to LOVE our enemies as well as our loved ones.
Matthew 22:36-40............
" Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
If a person can not love all colors of people and races TODAY on this earth, how in God's name can they be expected to get along with the same kinds of people in heaven?????
Jimmy......you stay committed to the Lord Jesus and know in your heart that the ground at the foot of cross is level my brother!
I would never imply that the Lord does not teach us to treat others with respect, and to be the servants of those around us but...
Christians are sinners that have been saved by the grace of God by the blood of Christ through faith. Period.
There are those that feel a commitment to life their lives in a manner that pleases Him, and reflects His character for others.
There are Christians that are less committed, yet still covered by His sacrifice.
There are persons who by any worldly measure are very good persons, but are none the less still outside of His sacrifice.
The point is that whether someone is good or bad should not be used as a gauge to their salvation.
As Christians, we should endeavor to present a good example to the world of what a Christian should be. We should be examples of Christian ideals of behavior. We should act in a way that world sees Him and is moved to accept His sacrifice. This is what the Lord legitimately expects.
But we should not confuse being good persons with being saved persons.
Christians are sinners that have been saved by the grace of God by the blood of Christ through faith. Period.
There are those that feel a commitment to life their lives in a manner that pleases Him, and reflects His character for others.
There are Christians that are less committed, yet still covered by His sacrifice.
There are persons who by any worldly measure are very good persons, but are none the less still outside of His sacrifice.
The point is that whether someone is good or bad should not be used as a gauge to their salvation.
As Christians, we should endeavor to present a good example to the world of what a Christian should be. We should be examples of Christian ideals of behavior. We should act in a way that world sees Him and is moved to accept His sacrifice. This is what the Lord legitimately expects.
But we should not confuse being good persons with being saved persons.
Interesting question you've asked. I'm anti-social by my vary nature and avoid people whenever possible. I'm one of those people that if you said "hello" to, you wouldn't get a response from me. I wouldn't even make eye contact with you. It has nothing to do with race, gender, age, or anything else - I just don't like other people. So, I guess I can't really call myself a Christian. I shall have to think on this.
There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28
Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. -- Colossians 3:11
...you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God...-- 1 Peter 2
Does anything more need to be said about this? Is this not clear?
Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. -- Colossians 3:11
...you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God...-- 1 Peter 2
Does anything more need to be said about this? Is this not clear?
Hey JimmyAk
I would like to apologize that you have felt ignored or rejected. Those feelings are never fun to go through and can be extremely hard.
We are called to love everyone, to love all. Even your enemies....yikes.
Let me tell you a story. I went to a Bible college and you could probably consider me a very likable person there. I had a large group of friends and even out of my group, I was friends with pretty much anyone. I had plans most of the time and just had a really good time in college. Until one day, my group of friends (30+) went out without without me and said some really terrible things about me. It came to my attention of someone that went out with them that wasn't part of the group came back to me and told me to get out of that group immediately. Before that, I felt the Lord's leading to leave the group, but I just thought, "NO, they care about me." This man just confirmed that they didn't.
I was hurt. I was depressed, and within the next day, I was friendless. Sure, I had those friends outside of my group, but they weren't the ones who I hung out with and they weren't close to me. No one reached out for the rest of the semester. None of that group of friends reached out. Even though I did no wrong to them, I chose to love. It was one of hardest things to do: Choosing to love them even though I know I didn't do anything wrong. Because I knew that ministry is not about me but about serving God and about people. I still had a desire to minister. However, I was depressed, but people would have never known that. My self-value was shaken, but I made sure people didn't see that except for my mentor and people who were close to me. I was on student council and was an RA, and I chose to be a leader still. God brought a lot of healing to me in that.
But the point is: I chose to love. And after that happened to me, something came to me called "perceived rejection," where I would perceive situations as rejection after that whole incident happened. You know, if someone doesn't say, "hi" to me, I perceived that as rejection. It's not rejection, but because my perception was distorted from the past, I perceived it as such.
Put on God's glasses. Look through His eyes, not your own. You are important, you are valued, and you are loved. You may perceive some situations as rejection when it's really not rejection, or you might really be being rejected....but regardless of what it is, take of your own glasses and put on God's glasses and see yourself as who He sees you: Blameless in his sight and clothed in righteousness. You are not rejected, Christ has reconciled you with God and the fullness of God dwells in you. You are not missing any pieces, and you do not have a void.
Brother,
You can still call yourself a christian and be antisocial! None of us are perfect and we are all in the process of sanctification until the day we die!
That's not to say you shouldn't be antisocial, because as Christians we are called to love others and be bold. We don't have to go out on a friday night and always be with large groups, but we are called to be sociable. Luckily for us, through Christ we are given a new nature, and are not slaves to our old habits.
I know that through the Lord you can be used to witness and show God's love towards a great multitude of people. I used to be one of the most shy people you'd ever meet, and now the Lord has given me the gift to achieve meaningful talk with many people that on my own accord I'd have nothing to do with.
If you ever need any help, shoot me a pm
You're back ..katy where have you been?Hey JimmyAk
I would like to apologize that you have felt ignored or rejected. Those feelings are never fun to go through and can be extremely hard.
We are called to love everyone, to love all. Even your enemies....yikes.
Let me tell you a story. I went to a Bible college and you could probably consider me a very likable person there. I had a large group of friends and even out of my group, I was friends with pretty much anyone. I had plans most of the time and just had a really good time in college. Until one day, my group of friends (30+) went out without without me and said some really terrible things about me. It came to my attention of someone that went out with them that wasn't part of the group came back to me and told me to get out of that group immediately. Before that, I felt the Lord's leading to leave the group, but I just thought, "NO, they care about me." This man just confirmed that they didn't.
I was hurt. I was depressed, and within the next day, I was friendless. Sure, I had those friends outside of my group, but they weren't the ones who I hung out with and they weren't close to me. No one reached out for the rest of the semester. None of that group of friends reached out. Even though I did no wrong to them, I chose to love. It was one of hardest things to do: Choosing to love them even though I know I didn't do anything wrong. Because I knew that ministry is not about me but about serving God and about people. I still had a desire to minister. However, I was depressed, but people would have never known that. My self-value was shaken, but I made sure people didn't see that except for my mentor and people who were close to me. I was on student council and was an RA, and I chose to be a leader still. God brought a lot of healing to me in that.
But the point is: I chose to love. And after that happened to me, something came to me called "perceived rejection," where I would perceive situations as rejection after that whole incident happened. You know, if someone doesn't say, "hi" to me, I perceived that as rejection. It's not rejection, but because my perception was distorted from the past, I perceived it as such.
Put on God's glasses. Look through His eyes, not your own. You are important, you are valued, and you are loved. You may perceive some situations as rejection when it's really not rejection, or you might really be being rejected....but regardless of what it is, take of your own glasses and put on God's glasses and see yourself as who He sees you: Blameless in his sight and clothed in righteousness. You are not rejected, Christ has reconciled you with God and the fullness of God dwells in you. You are not missing any pieces, and you do not have a void.
One question about loving your enemies.. BC someone who was supposed to be important to me.. Was kinda mean to me..and its been hard to get over..I have no idea how to"love " them..tbh I really dont BC they were mean to me and I feel if you dont draw the line people will definitely walk all over you.Hey JimmyAk
I would like to apologize that you have felt ignored or rejected. Those feelings are never fun to go through and can be extremely hard.
We are called to love everyone, to love all. Even your enemies....yikes.
Let me tell you a story. I went to a Bible college and you could probably consider me a very likable person there. I had a large group of friends and even out of my group, I was friends with pretty much anyone. I had plans most of the time and just had a really good time in college. Until one day, my group of friends (30+) went out without without me and said some really terrible things about me. It came to my attention of someone that went out with them that wasn't part of the group came back to me and told me to get out of that group immediately. Before that, I felt the Lord's leading to leave the group, but I just thought, "NO, they care about me." This man just confirmed that they didn't.
I was hurt. I was depressed, and within the next day, I was friendless. Sure, I had those friends outside of my group, but they weren't the ones who I hung out with and they weren't close to me. No one reached out for the rest of the semester. None of that group of friends reached out. Even though I did no wrong to them, I chose to love. It was one of hardest things to do: Choosing to love them even though I know I didn't do anything wrong. Because I knew that ministry is not about me but about serving God and about people. I still had a desire to minister. However, I was depressed, but people would have never known that. My self-value was shaken, but I made sure people didn't see that except for my mentor and people who were close to me. I was on student council and was an RA, and I chose to be a leader still. God brought a lot of healing to me in that.
But the point is: I chose to love. And after that happened to me, something came to me called "perceived rejection," where I would perceive situations as rejection after that whole incident happened. You know, if someone doesn't say, "hi" to me, I perceived that as rejection. It's not rejection, but because my perception was distorted from the past, I perceived it as such.
Put on God's glasses. Look through His eyes, not your own. You are important, you are valued, and you are loved. You may perceive some situations as rejection when it's really not rejection, or you might really be being rejected....but regardless of what it is, take of your own glasses and put on God's glasses and see yourself as who He sees you: Blameless in his sight and clothed in righteousness. You are not rejected, Christ has reconciled you with God and the fullness of God dwells in you. You are not missing any pieces, and you do not have a void.
Alot of resentment has to do with not living in the light of eternity. No matter what somebody does to us, it will not matter 10,000 years from now when we are with Jesus, so why worry about it now?
If the person who hurt you is lost, then our primary goal is to share the gospel with them and to pray for their salvation.
If somebody walks all over you, so be it, our focus needs to be solely on Christ, and never on our circumstances. We know the end of the book, the lost people who wish to walk over us do not.
There are many ways in which love is shown. It is not only the supporting of whatever someone else was doing, particularly if it is harmful to you.
If the person will talk about the issue, communication can at least make each understand or at least be aware of the other's position.
Rebukes can be a part of loving someone, if it is done not so much to assert your position as it is so that they can see their error.
Example:
Matthew 21
I believe that when the Lord scourged those who were buying and selling sacrifices and overturned the money changers tables, it was an act of love. People seemed to be thinking that what was going on was fine, or at least not something they could change. They were wrong. It should be obvious that those involved in selling sacrificial animals, and the changing of money from commercial Roman money to money acceptable to the temple were both greedy. When one thinks about it, the people also could have just bought their sacrifices earlier in the week (preparing for the Sabbath). Our Lord was demonstrating how wrong this was in a way that was hard to ignore. This gave them an opportunity to recognize the situation for what it was.
As far as forgiveness when someone has wronged you, you should always be ready to forgive and let that be in the past. Our Lord said they should be forgiven as much as seven times seventy (Matt 18:21-22). It is not the number that is important, it is the that there is _no_ limit where forgiveness is no longer appropriate. But that does not mean that you have to keep submitting to poor treatment. Sometimes we must forgive as we remove ourselves from a situation.
There definitely needs to be a boundary in that. But holding on resentment or bitterness is a choice. Whenever someone is mean to you, it is hard to get over. In those cases, as much as I hate it, I do try to pray for my enemies. Eventually, that heart that once hated them turns to something totally difference. When praying for enemies, it is hard to remain hateful towards them.
Not that you hate this person, but I would encourage you to even pray or just ask God, "God, teach me how to love. Speak to me in this situation because I am hurting."
I must apologize for my previous post. It was much too negative.
It’s not that it is untrue; merely that rebuke and dismissing the other person should not be the first advice, particularly without knowing more about the situation. And I should have recognized that my answer was more of a response to things happening in the life of persons close to me.
Friendships and friendly acquaintances are too precious to let go without attempts at reconciliation at lest in proportion to the importance of friendship. Even when you cannot really enjoy the company of someone else, you can still treat them with respect, and expect respectful treatment in return.
I encourage you to talk things out, making sure you listen and attempt to understand any opposing position or the ‘other side’ of any slight you may have experienced.
Throughout my working life, there have always been persons that grated on my nerves, or even openly acted against me and my position, that I none-the-less had to work with, and even maintain an accepting attitude in semi-social occasions. At times it has been hard, but the times I fell short (and there were a few) did not result in better relationships, while some of the times where I remained respectful in the face of barbed remarks by others sometimes resulted in better teamwork later.
Now, in retirement, I find there are people (one in particular) that if they (he) thinks of me at all, does not think of me kindly, but we work together amicably to serve those in our community.
You don’t have to like everyone. You don’t even have to like people to show them respect respect as persons and the love of the Lord. You do need to forgive them. You do need to show others respect as persons. It is difficult to show personal respect to someone who you have not forgiven.
Loving them is doing unto them as you want them to do unto you. When I cut in front of someone on the highway and swear at them...I want them to show forgiveness to me and not pull out a gun and end my life.
Jesus used the word ''enemy'' in Matt 5:44 to make one hell of a point / remove all confusion on the subject. He wants us to fully grasp that any normal person would hate the person He is telling us to love. This is why Christianity cannot be faked.
Cut off point is an interesting discussion. I believe there is never a cut off point. Casting pearl before swine has to do with preaching to those who don't want to hear. Loving encompasses that and laying your life down for others. We must always lay our life down for others. We don't get trampled. Jesus does. We are living for Him, not ourselves Matt 16:24, Matt 10:39
Looking at a marriage clears this up too. Scripture says the Christian must never leave. The unsaved leave us. We do not leave them. As Paul says in 1 Cor 5:9-10.
9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
IE If we can't love those who hate us, we may as well leave this world.