Loving Naturally

What is the greatest trait that a Christian is meant to be known for? Love, right? If you walk down the street and ask random people what Christians really are known for you will get a variety of different answers. There will be those who say things like God, love, or generosity but you will also hear a lot of other things such as homophobia, hatred of other religions, hypocrites, judgmental-ism or in general, being known for what they are against instead of what they are supposed to be.

The amazing thing about Jesus is that he walked the earth in perfection fully knowing the evil that was in the heart of man and still loved us so much that he gave his life. Jesus’ message was completely against the sin that people lived in, yet sinners still wanted to hang out with him. I believe that Jesus saw people differently than you or I do most of the time. He chose to see their potential for redemption instead of just their offensiveness to God. He was able to do this because he understood that his purpose as the messiah was to take the sin of the world upon himself and condemn it, not the world.
As Christians, our single most greatest responsibility is to love God and love others. What if we were able to combine those two great commandments into one act of seeing God or the fingerprint of God in every person. When we look at people who are living in sin we have the choice to see them as if they are the very essence of their sin or as if they are a beautiful child of God who is held captive as a slave to sin. The truth of the matter is that many Christians confess their love for God without expressing that love to the world around them. But if we say we love God without loving our brother in a practical way the bible calls us a liar. Many Christians define themselves not by their ability to forgive, their generosity or their love toward their enemies but by the what viewpoints they are against. I think it’s time that we as Christians live for something instead of living against something. Let’s live for the redemption of people instead of living against the sins of people and then we will find it easier to love people.