"Religious Talk"

This post is a little different today, it's my thoughts on a situation that I saw unfold on our beloved social networking site, facebook.

Here's the situation in the brief, a local pastor and his family were on vacation when they were hit my a semi head on (so far no one has died, but the family could sure use any prayers sent their way) and therefore made the local news stations. I had received a request to pray for the family earlier in the day, so I was curious as to what the news had to say, (I "follow" this local news on facebook) so I checked out the article. It was tastefully done and basically just gave the facts of the accident, that wasn't the part that got my attention, it was the first comment after the story that got to me. A person said "serves them right for being Christians", now, as most of you reading this, my first reaction was anger and resent. As I kept reading those comments, and the replies to them; I started to get discouraged. This poor soul is hurting, and crying out for love and the "Christians" that were replying to him, were just trying to get him to debate and prove he was wrong. I understand that thinking, because I wanted to do the same thing! But instead of replying at all, I set out to pray for the person. I prayed that God would lead someone into his life that would show him God's love for him; and that he'd stop hurting. I wanted to reach out to him so much, but I was unaware of how to do this. I know that my Lord does miracles every single day; and I'm praying for one in this persons life on a daily basis.

It got me thinking (well that, and a blog I read attached to the youversion.com bible on line) about how a non-Christian views our "language". I know that when I'm reading my bible I get confused, and I grew up in the church, how much more so would it be for someone who's never been apart of that, or read the bible before? I feel that as Christians, we have a responsibility NOT to overload non-believers with fancy words and rules; I feel our job is to show them love. Wasn't this Jesus' role here on earth? To love the sinners? There is a passage in the Bible that talks a little bit about our responsibility towards others, it's Matthew 7:3 "And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?"  When we load up on those words and actions that the "normal" person doesn't understand, sometimes we just push them away instead of bring them to Christ.

So the bottom line for me, is that I'm trying hard not to sound "holier then thou" or overly "smart" in my talking about faith. I want God to shine through me and be a light in the world. And I'm taking steps to pray for this person, instead of bash this person. May the Lord shine through us all, and show others what true love is all about.