But I saw a photo posted on social media...it's not my picture, so I can't show it, but it was an image taken after the storms that ravaged southeastern Alabama Sunday.
It's a picture of a church. The front wall...with pillars and steps and all...is still intact.
But the rest of the building is obliterated.
The person who took the photo took some comfort in the fact that the front of the church was still intact.
But that image froze my spirit. Prophetic, I tell you, it's prophetic.
Front on, it looks like a church.
But walk through the door, and you are nowhere different from where you started. Not a holy place. Not a sanctuary. Just...more of the outside.
I have seen the word 'hate' thrown around a lot in reference to people who believe the church should be different than the outside, that being part of a church should mean following Jesus, as he is recorded in the Bible, which is not the same as following what one thinks Jesus would say or do now, based on what's popular and thought-well-of.
'Hate' is a negative word. An aggressive word. An obliterating word.
Which is not the position of people who feel that God has given us instructions on how we should live. Who believe that people who claim to be followers of Jesus should take those instructions seriously.
Now, that's not to say that there are not people who have abused and overused and put their own spin on those instructions so that they end up being something entirely different than what was stated. And that abuse has disenfranchised folks who should not have been disenfranchised. It has covered over things that are downright criminal. Fallen humans using a shroud of religion to advance their own agenda, not that of the kingdom. So I get that anything that speaks of limits and boundaries and what is and is not acceptable might sound like more of the same.
But it isn't. There's just too much in Scripture that describes what it means to live as a follower of Christ. I'm reading through Ephesians again as part of a class I'm teaching and, whoa, the whole second half of the book is about Christian lifestyle. Just a sample:
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person -- such a man is an idolater-- has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. (Eph. 5: 5-7, NIV84).
Strong words. But not hateful words. Warning words. But not threatening words. There is a difference.
Hate actively wishes destruction upon the hated. To accuse someone of hatred where there is none is wrong.
A church with no walls is no church. And I am not talking about buildings. Walls are defining boundaries. The intention is not to exclude what is without, but to guard what is within. And that is not hate, no matter what folks say about it.
Back to my kleenex box and hot tea....
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