Kan wee git sum unnkundishional luv in heer~ pleeez??
All right. This one just blows my brain off its hinges. What is it with this cliche - "quit hanging out with them and get some new friends"? I've heard it many times, but recently it really clicked for me, just how un-Christ-like this attitude really is.I have a friend who considers herself to be "screwed up." She has been through a lot and done a lot. Many things she acknowledges she shouldn't have done. Yet, several of her Christian friends have abandoned her. They have simply said that she is part of the "bad crowd" and have ceased friendship with her. This hurts her. It cuts her deeply.
Another good friend of the family had a lot of pain in her past. Scars of hatred and contempt left by several types of abuse - as far as emotional pain is concerned, she had the whole nine yards. A pastor was trying to help her deal with it - but unfortunately, he had strings attached. Eventually, he told her something along the lines of, "you're not willing to give your life over to Christ, so I can't help you any more." With that, he was gone. Whatever of her lifelong wounds had healed, became reopened.
How can this be Christ-like? Whatever happened to Jesus' favorite line, "neither do I condemn you..."? Whatever happened to unconditional love? to forgiveness? to friendship with no strings attached? I love the way The Message puts 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love puts up with anything. It always looks for the best. It doesn't keep score of the sins of others. It's unconditional. No strings attached. Regardless of the things you've done. No matter what.
Why is it that we say, "stop hanging out with those people," when Jesus would say, "forgive them" (Luke 23:34)? Why do we say, "quit hanging out with the wrong crowd" when Jesus said, "I ... [came to call] sinners to repentance" (Mark 2:17)? Why do we say, "get away from worldly people" when Jesus said, "go into all the world" (Mark 16:15)? What happened to John 3:17? And why do we so easily forget that Jesus didn't choose the scribes and rabbis as his twelve best friends?
Who are we to judge the "wrong crowd" anyway? Since when did we start blaming everything on others? Are we not responsible for our own actions, regardless of whom our friends are? When are we going to stop condemning others for their actions, and start loving them as God loves us - unconditionally?
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