Christians are often criticized for being critical….and we are.

Christians are called judgmental…and too often we are.

Christians can come across “better than thou” at times….but we aren’t.

There is much to criticize about the community called Christian, but the solution to all of it is in two simple verses in Ephesians.

Honestly, we were never called to be fruit inspectors judging the deeds of those in the world.  We were never asked to set the rules for everyone to follow.  Jesus never admonished us to be the morality police for the communities we live in.  He only asked us to do one thing….love one another.

That is the solution to everything!  If the Christian world would simply live by these two simple verses and not try to fix the world with our code of ethics we would in fact fix the world with the love of Christ.

How do we so easily miss this?  We miss it because it’s hard.  People are messy, dirty, mean, unkind…they don’t do things the way we want them to.  People are hard to love, but that’s our primary task.  If the Christian world would simply love those around them it would be the solution to everything.

No more signs in front of abortion clinics, instead we would be loving and helping the young girls in our communities so the abortion clinic would never be an option.

No more focus on changing laws,  instead we would love those around us and as they trust Christ because of that love the community around us changes.

There are a hundred more I could mention and they are all easier than loving the unlovely, but our task is to love….just as Christ loved us.

If we lived by these two simple verses it would be the solution to everything.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

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The world would say that if you become a Christian “you will really miss out.” The implication is that there is a lot of good sinning to be had and if you become one of those Christians you can’t “have fun.” But, I wonder, what would be on the list of the things a person without Christ would be without. Here’s a few as I think about this,

1. without hope
2. without a promise
3. without a future
4. without God
5. without peace
6. without joy
7. without direction

I’m working on the list, but those few come to mind in a moment of typing. It strikes me that if you are without Christ you are without a future, without direction, without a promise, without God in the world. Instead of “missing out on the fun” the Christian is really the most blessed of people because they are no longer “without.”

The post Without first appeared on CHRISTIAN REP.