Yesterday I learned that someone I consider a good friend has been told by doctors that he has two to three months to live. The Sunday prior I attended a church service where over three hundred people were healed. We’ve prayed for healing for this man for years, and believed he had been miraculously healed when doctors were able to remove a large tumor.
Why do these things happen, and if God is a God of Love, why does He allow suffering?
A couple months before this, a couple who had been some of my wife’s and my closest friends told us they no longer could be friends with us because of differences of opinion that they could not overcome.
We are all Christians who believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
Why then are we divided? Our hope is not in earthly things, but in the things above. We are to be compassionate and forgiving with each other, and long-suffering.
Colossians 3:12-14
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
I will be one of the first to admit that I am a work in progress, and the Lord has a lot of work to do on my sanctification. I say one of because I’m sure there are many who will beat me to it. Never before have I been so aware of my shortcomings and failures, and thus my need for the relentless pursuit and love of a gentle and forgiving God.
My failures were put on full display in a public announcement and removal from fellowship of my local church body. And I have no alibi, I am guilty as charged. I bring myself forward to confess and seek repentance and forgiveness, as David writes in Psalm 51:4, “Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight; so You are right in Your verdict and justified when You judge.”
We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. We all are in desperate need of salvation. The reality is that God designed us as humans to have free will, and that means that we can choose to disobey his perfect design. Adam and Eve were the first to eat of the forbidden fruit, but we continue in their legacy with our choices today.
God created us for relationship, and he wants us to live in harmony together. It is easy to fall into the trap of negative thinking and self-loathing. Love is what binds us all together, and his love flowing through us is what gives us the capacity to forgive each other.
Relationship Over Rules
When it comes time to choose between working to restore a relationship, or in upholding the strict interpretation of Biblical convictions, I believe that we are called to lean in to the former. Paul speaks about this multiple times, consistently urging believers to practice love, forgiveness, humility and patience. He emphasizes that unity and inclusiveness are central to living out the gospel.
The church must be careful to not fall into either extreme of legalism or licentiousness.
That means that we should not cease to call out each other’s sins, as iron sharpens iron. But it also means we must avoid toxic faith that puts man’s ability to follow rules over God’s salvation. Church Discipline is a needed and Holy endeavor that must be done with care and love.
