Last week I wrote a post about the polarizing nature of social media. I wrote that instead of clinging to the extremes of any issue, we need to be willing to listen to other people. Humility enables us to listen to another person, even if we don’t agree with them and even if we’re not going to change their mind. There’s value in simply hearing another person’s perspective and continuing to respect them even if we don’t see eye-to-eye.
While I don’t think that we should spend too much time on the extremes of most issues, there are definitely some black and white issues in the world. Most everything has some amount of grey to it and requires holding a few things in tension. However, there are some things that are right and others that are wrong. There are some things that are true and others that are false.
Jesus said that he is the way, the truth and the life and that no one can get to the Father except through him. There aren’t any grey areas in that statement. All roads won’t eventually lead to the Father, there is only one way that leads to the Father: Jesus. What Jesus said is true, so that necessarily makes any claims against Jesus’s statement false. That is a black and white issue.
Just because Jesus is the truth, though, doesn’t mean we get to respond to others in an arrogant manner. We don’t get to lord the truth of the gospel over others and mock their beliefs. 1 Peter tells us to be ready to give an answer for the reason for the hope that we have, but we’re to do that with gentleness and respect. The truth of Jesus is an absolute, but we can still meet someone in the middle, right where they’re at.
There’s also no gray area when it comes to sin. Sin is wrong, plainly and simply. There can be discussion over some issues like watching rated R movies or drinking responsibly. But if the Bible explicitly says that something is a sin, then it’s a sin.
Murder is a sin.
Adultery is a sin.
Lying is a sin.
Taking advantage of the poor is a sin.
Lust is a sin.
There’s no wiggle room on these issues; they’re sin. We can do all of the theological dancing that we want, we can make as many excuses as we want, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re sins.
Again, just because sin is sin doesn’t mean we don’t engage with people who sin. If we did that, then we wouldn’t ever engage with anyone; we wouldn’t even be able to engage with ourselves! Jesus was open to spending time with sinners but did it on his terms. I don’t think we would have seen Jesus engaging people in a strip club or during a bank robbery. Sin is sin and we should never convince ourselves that it isn’t. But our approach to sinners, which includes ourselves, should never be extreme or polarizing.
There are absolutes in this world and we can find those absolute truths in the Bible. Living out those truths, though, should never push us to the extremes or lead us to polarize those around. Jesus was and is the absolute truth, but he drew people to himself. If we live with Jesus’s truth and grace, we can have the same impact on those around us.
In light of the absolute truth of Jesus and the Bible, how do you live with grace?
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