This is something that I have wanted to get off of my proverbial chest for quite some time so please bear with me. Since my walk with Christ I have noticed a disturbing attitude among some of the people who identify themselves as Christians. It is an attitude of spiritual superiority, pretending to know the very mind of God, deciding which sins are worse than others on God's behalf, and judging who has been restored by grace and who has not. One day Jesus was teaching in the temple and the Pharisees brought a woman in who had been caught in the act of adultery for they were wanting to trap Jesus (John 8). By the law this adulterous woman, along with her lover who is conspicuously absent from this scene, should have been stoned to death. Jesus' response caught them off-guard when He said that if there were any without sin they should cast the first stone. Those that were ready to condemn the woman to death wisely dropped their stones and walked away. The problem today is that wisdom is lacking. Some within the church are ready to stone anybody and everybody even though they themselves have sin in their hearts. Too often Christians rail against the sin that personally offends them, abortion, homosexual acts, pornography, adultery, etc. All you have to do is watch "Christian television" to find out what the sin of the day is. Yet, this same person has lust in their heart making them an adulterer, never passes up a buffet line resulting in gluttony, gossiping about others, coveting what belongs to another person, and on and on and on. If a person claims to be without sin they are deceiving themselves and are a liar (1John 1:8).
Often it is claimed that Sodom was judged for homosexuality, therefore, we should judge homosexuals. Before we start casting stones in this direction we should read Ezekiel 16:46-52. This is the word of the LORD to Israel and can easily be applied to some in the church today, including pastors and preachers. The sin of Sodom was that they were arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned, not helping the poor and needy and they did detestable things before the LORD. These are the people who are often the first ones to pick-up a stone and begin throwing them at the one caught in sin. The arrogant, overfed, apathetic, who are not doing anything to relieve the burden of the poor are often the first and loudest to condemn another's sin. Recently it has been very strong in my heart that people who live in glass houses should not be picking-up any stones. Sin is sin and all of our righteousness is nothing more than filthy menstrual rags. Each and every one of us has sinned and fallen short of God's glory, so let's get over ourselves and begin restoring the fallen sinner for love covers over a multitude of sins instead of condemning the one who is caught. One day all of our own personal sins will be exposed in the light of His glory so we should be humbled by our own sin, recognizing that regardless of our sin or anyone elses', we are loved.
I have come to the place in my life where I want to love the sinner and let the Holy Spirit take care of the sin. That person's sin is between them and God and really is none of my business except if somehow I can help them overcome their failings.
Next I will write about the restoration.
