But what happens when the only enemies you have are your brothers and sisters in Christ? I find myself in that situation. I don't think of Al Qaeda as my enemy (although I'm an American, so apparently they are), and I don't think of atheists as my enemies. The only enemies I have are Christians. For some reason, I find it easier to forgive and love someone who has wronged me that isn't a follower of Jesus. I don't know why that is. I suppose it's because Christians should know better than to be assholes to each other. And, make no mistake, Christians can be some of the biggest assholes on the planet.
I've always had a hard time with Christians. Not all of them, mind you, but enough of them that I'm no longer in occupational ministry and I have, at times, all but given up on the Church as a whole. I know that I'm supposed to love them, even when they say horrible things about me, and I do love them. But I find myself not wanting to be anywhere near them and I'm not sure how Christian that really is. It's one thing to not want to be around your father if he beat you as a kid, but we're talking about people we are supposed to have a mystical connection with through Jesus.
So what is the proper response? If we really loved our fellow Christ followers, shouldn't we want to be around them even if they've hurt us?
No comments:
Post a Comment