Be Graceful, Like God is to Me
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2
During my last seminary course, the Professor asked us to pick an image out of a collection of photos to represent us. I picked one that has a girl looking into a room through a tiny window of a closed door.
When I shared, I talked about how my experience of being excluded in the pass just because I'm not in line with them. I hate it when the same mentality keep people outside of the Church because there is a standard that was not met and that standard felt so human.
I think this is why I passionately detest the Fundamentalists. I have no patient with them when they take Scriptures out of context because that would fit their theology instead of the other way around. I get upset when they go around telling people “unless you interpret the Bible my way you do not know the Bible.” Then to Pastors and Preachers, “if you don't preach the Bible like our great leaders, you don't preach the ‘full Gospel’ and you are leading people in worshipping a false god.”
Yesterday, I was writing something up and while I was telling myself, don't get upset, I did. By the Grace of God He made me lost what I wrote.
I know I could tell myself, Jesus seemed to have no patient with Pharisees, why should I? But this morning, He is telling me, “I did.”
He didn't randomly get upset at every Pharisees. Yes, Jesus did get upset with them, but in most interaction His first approach was always a teaching one, even when they used their Talmud to let the male adulterer go and tried to get Jesus to give the go-ahead to kill the female.
God has been gracious to me too many times in so many ways. Even when these Fundamentalists are doing the exact opposite of what God wants His people to do, and acting EXACTLY like the Pharisees, I need to be patient with them in correcting their ways, and if they insist of being stubborn and think their way is better, they don't determine things for God and what they say will never represent God. Meaning, just because they say I follow a false god and how I am not reading the Bible “correctly”, I only have to treat them as they treat prophetess of God.
And the end of the day, it is their loss and the only feeling I should have is sadness. The same sadness Jesus felt when that rich young ruler walked away.
May the Good Lord have mercy on me too give me the strength.
