Speaking the Truth in Love

I'm angry right now. I am frustrated with Christian brothers and sisters who make us look like uncaring, self-righteous hypocrites. In truth, I am a uncaring, self-righteous hypocrite but I'm not proud of it.

A few minutes ago I read the attached article on Heath Ledger and instantly my Agenda Radar (version 4.0) went off. I'm not going to comment too much on what the article said so perhaps read it for yourself and see what you think.

I'm increasingly sick of the need to take a story about a person's troubled life and use it as a lead-in to brow beat people for their Godless lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, there is A LOT of truth in this article. Most of what they say is true, but the manner in which they say it infuriates me.

I went to a Bible study at church last night and the speaker reminded us that we need to be careful as to how we use the Word of God. We need to check our heart and see what our motives are before we speak. She pointed out that even Satan uses God's Word (Matthew 4), but his motives aren't pure.

We need to be careful that we "speak the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15). Yes, truth needs to be spoken, but we need not step onto our soap box for the purpose of being right.

Heath Ledger's death is definitely something that we should talk about. I honestly don't know if this was a case of suicide or not. That is not for me to say, but whether or not it was, one thing is for sure, people are hurting. We all know that there is more to this life than what we see and stars that achieve everything in life that they can possibly achieve and yet still don't feel fulfilled are a good example of the fact that there is something out there connecting us to something.

As Christians we need to show that there is more to this life. When we behave as Jesus did the world sees that we have the peace that they long for. Bible thumping is not going to make the world want what we have. Why would someone like Heath Ledger turn to a Christian during this time if he felt that he was going to be attacked for his lifestyle. I'm not advocating complete tolerance to his lifestyle, but how can we expect someone to act as though they have the Holy Spirit when they don't have the Holy Spirit. Our first concern is for them to know Jesus. Obedience is a response to God's love and if they don't know God's love how are they expected to act that way.

Anyways, that is my rant.