Filthy Rags

~ The biggest stumbling block of effectively living out holiness is the offense we entertain at those who we consider less holy than ourselves.

~ That was the whole point of I Cor 13... defining love not as religion does or after the traditions of men, rather defining love as Christ demonstrated it and continues to demonstrate it. Not separating yourself from ppl, but separating yourself from their sin. Not seeing their lack of faith in the Christian God as something that makes them less than you, but seeing a hurting soul that you wanna share the goodness and blessings of God with. 

So often we boast within our own hearts to ourselves about our own holiness and how far we have come and our testimony of all that God has done for us and fashioned us to become... and our prosperity blinds us from seeing just how filthy our righteousness remains in Truth.

The only thing that separates us from that person that we consider less holy than ourselves is the KNOWLEDGE of the love of Christ.

We have heard and believed, and they have either not heard or not been convinced to believe it yet. It is not about how clean and groomed we can get our lives, nothing we do or say matters if we do not LOVE AS GOD LOVES... seeing others eye to eye, on our level, playing on the same field, just trying to understand how to win this game.

The knowledge that winning only comes through Christ as coach, captain, and quarterback is our holiness, and all the rest is trimming. God says to seek to be holy, to seek to be perfect, and yet he says that none is perfect save (except) ONE.. and that is Jesus Christ. We all fall short, it is only by grace.

Not to judge one another, but to check ourselves.

What attitude is truly permeating our heart when we encounter, minister to and even serve those who are without Christ, ruled by the world, offensive and full of hate toward us and our God... until we see ourselves in their pain and ugliness, we fail. They are us, and we are them, save for the knowledge of the love of Jesus for us all. And our ideas of our own holiness are only gonna hinder them from ever seeing who Christ truly is.

We all too often demand that ppl be like us, rather than encourage them to be like Christ. We can change that, we can get it right. Praying that God gives us revelation of his definition of love ♥