… Jesus really meant what He said?
“I did not come to condemn, but to save.”
Condemn: to declare to be reprehensible, wrong, or evil…to judge unfit for use or consumption.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus … [Romans 8:1]
What if that were true?
I know—it’s a complex theological statement. But what if it were as simple as “follow Jesus” = “no condemnation”?
What if every follower of Jesus stopped judging others as “reprehensible, wrong, or evil”? Even “those people”—you know, the ones who are, well, “unfit”?
What if
We refused to make—or forward, or approve—snarky political comments?
We didn’t support causes or people that marginalize or diminish any individual or group?
Our Twitter and Facebook posts were conspicuous for their lack of condemnation?
We greeted people and behaviors that offend us with love and acceptance?
We were known for the causes Jesus advanced—peace, agape, hope, mercy, grace?
God’s kingdom mattered more than governments or countries or flags?
We were identified by the things in which we believe instead of the things with which we disagree?
Others saw that we follow Jesus without being angry about it?
We stopped trying to win battles He never asked us to fight?
We took The Great Commission as a standard by which to measure our own actions?
We loved evil into irrelevance (sort of like Jesus did) instead of trying to beat it into submission?
What if
I stopped the most disabling kind of condemnation—the “self” kind?