“Oh, she’s so horrible for doing that.”
“I always knew he wasn’t a true believer.”
“So, even pastors do this too?”
“What a disappointment, such a lack of shame for a minister.”
How often have these very words, these judgements, formed in your mouth and heart?
More often than we care to admit, right?
It’s the default response to what we deem improper—especially when the perceived perpetrators are those we once held in such high esteem.
”Oh, I could never!”
“Nothing would ever make me do that!”
“I could never stoop so low.”
But you truly never know what you could or could not do. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. You sit safely on the sidelines, judging those you see fall, only because you do not yet face the same struggles.
Does this excuse sin? Never!
Does this mean it is impossible to live a holy and righteous life? Certainly not!
We are called into a covenant of sanctification so that, even when our flesh is weak, Christ helps our infirmities.
But this understanding does call us to grace and kindness. It calls us to know no one from a worldly, superficial perspective. (As we are taught in 2 Corinthians 5:16.)
Yet, for some reason, brothers and sisters, we have chosen to carry the shame along. We have decided to only see honor or condemnation.
We no longer see brokenness.
We no longer see souls needing rescue.
We no longer see brothers or sisters under a terrible burden.
We only see opportunity for condemnation.
In doing so, to those who are burdened, we have only added weight. The very darkness we condemn, we now walk in, because we fail to walk in LOVE.
So dear brother, my beautiful sister, when you are sitting on the sidelines:
When you observe that brother stumble,
When you watch that sister struggle,
Remember to give grace to the sinner with the same intense conviction with which you hate the sin.
Remember that Jesus foresaw Judas’s betrayal, yet still broke bread with him.
Remember that God has committed the message of reconciliation to you and me, not shame.
So, while you observe, Care!
Instead of condemn, Pray!
Instead of despise, Love!
And most importantly, from the sidelines, HELP!
