Silently Frustrated

I have concluded that the greatest ill of society is not the fault of sinners who sin; after all that is their nature. The greatest ill is when Christians remain silent, when they hesitate to share the only truth that can set the sinner free.

Some say we should let the sinner be, let them bask in their sinful life and all it has to offer them, let them live the life they choose to live, and hold our tongues, our judgments, our words of wisdom and words of life, only offering truth to those who come seeking it. 

Others say we should despise the sin, separate ourselves from the world and all that is in the world, and socialize only with those who are like-minded. 

And my favorite group is those who say we should embrace the sinner, accepting their lifestyle and befriending them as they love to point out, "That's what Jesus did."

But did He?

What I remember about the stories of Jesus and His friendships is quite different from that. Don't get me wrong, Jesus loved the sinners. When He was "friendly" with the woman at the well, He spoke truth to her and changed her life. One conversation with Jesus converted an adulteress, sinful woman into a minister of the Gospel. She left Him and immediately began sharing the good news that the Messiah had come. 

And when He became the hero to the adulteress woman who was going to be stoned to death, with the words that He spoke, He set her free... "Woman, where are your accusers? Go and sin no more." I'm not sure that's the same thing as befriending/embracing/accepting the sinner. He told her to go and sin no more! He didn't tell her to go and carry on with her life as she had been living. He didn't ask her to go hang out at the coffee shop with Him or play a round of pool at the local pool hall. He showed her love by speaking truth to her. "Go and sin no more." 

And even Zacchaeus, the sinner who was so desperate to see the Christ that he climbed a tree to see over the crowd... when Jesus told him He was coming to his house, it was a momentary encounter that brought immediate repentance and salvation.

I think too of the disciples, how He disrupted their lives by telling them to lay their lives down, leave their occupations, their lifestyles, their families, and follow Him. He didn't just ask them to partner with Him. He asked them to lay their lives down and live life differently. He asked them to walk away from what they knew and were comfortable with and live a whole new way, His way. 

He didn't have to spend days, weeks, months, a lifetime with people who were deep in addiction, pursuing immorality, spiraling out of control, heading for destruction before He shared the Gospel with them and set them free. He didn't have to embrace them, accept their lifestyle, wine and dine them before He asked them to leave their sinful lives and follow Him. 

Maybe I'm amiss. Maybe I am way off base, but it seems to me that we make a lot of excuses about why lives aren't being changed, and it seems to me that we are either too cowardly or too complacent or too compromised to do what He has called us to do.

I'm tired of excuses. I'm tired of tiptoeing around the truth, trying to make it more palatable for those who are lost in sin. I'm frustrated. Frustrated that the encounters I have with the lost aren't life-changing. Frustrated that so many in the church are living in bondage to sin too. 

And I'm frustrated with those who know the truth but remain silent. 

I'm frustrated with myself.