“Our faith isn’t all the things we say we believe; it’s what we do next.”
~ Bob Goff, Live in Grace, Walk in Love

That. 😉 I feel like I could just leave you with that quote–shortest blog post ever, LOL. Because really, it says it so well, doesn’t it? It harkens to that “walk the walk” adage. It appeals to James’s “I’ll show you my faith by my works” line. It sums up pretty much all the commentary on living out what we believe, day by day and step by step.

I read this in Goff’s devotional several weeks ago, and it’s stuck with me. And as usual, it’s combined with other things I’ve been reading or otherwise coming across. The idea of loving our neighbors, truly loving them. The idea of loving our enemies. Of loving the sinner. It’s about what happens in our lives and in our hearts when the rubber meets the road.

In Dream Big (also by Bob Goff), one of the questions in the study section issues this challenge: Take your average Tuesday. List the things you do during that day.

How does it declare your faith?

Why is this profound? Because our lives aren’t lived in the big moments. Our faith isn’t proven only in a crisis or a victory. Our witness doesn’t rely on how we act at special events. It’s the everyday, the now, that really determines who we are and how we love God. So what’s in your Tuesday, or your Monday, or your Thursday afternoon? How does it shine His light into the darkness? What are you going to do in the next 30 minutes? The next hour? The next four? How does that intersect with your faith in the one true God and the Son who gave His life for you?

I think all too often we just mark time–we’re standing there, marching in place, waiting for the boring everyday stuff to be done so that we can get to what we really want to do. The weekend. The summer vacation. That big holiday. The mission trip. There’s nothing wrong with looking forward to any of those things, obviously…but they’re not what life is made of, are they? Life is more than the big moments. It’s ALL the moments in between. Our characters, our hearts, aren’t just definied by those big days, but rather by all the “meantime.”

The challenge that Goff issues, and which I’ve long tried to live out as well, is to live EACH day as if it’s the one you’ve been waiting for. Each normal, ordinary day is a chance to give glory to Him. It’s a chance to choose what we’re going to do next. It’s a chance not just to talk about our faith, but to walk in it. It’s a chance to chase our dreams. It’s a chance to mend a bridge. It’s a chance to try something new.

Make a call. Send an email. Write a letter. Bake cookies for those neighbors you’ve never met. Go out of your way to give lunch to the homeless man on the corner. Write that story you’ve been meaning to get started on. Or hey, just write down that epiphany from the other day in a journal. Do something nice for your most annoying coworker. Give away something to someone who knows how much it means to you, to prove to them that they mean more. Take the first step toward that off-the-wall, crazy dream that won’t leave you alone.

Do something. Do something today to be more like Christ. Do something today to give feet to the words we say so easily. Do something to make today special.

Don’t just say you believe in Jesus. Prove it. Prove it today.

Love the sinner, hate the sin.

You’ve heard this saying. I know you have. I’ve been hearing it all my life, and in its truest sense, it’s right. We are certainly called to hate sin. And we are certainly called the love everyone, neighbors and enemies alike. That includes sinners.

But what does this actually look like?

Well, Jesus gives us the ultimate example, of course. It looks like loving people so much, it breaks your heart to consider what separates them from the Father. It means giving your own life in order to keep them from paying the penalty for their sins. It means instructing people, showing them the Truth, teaching and living an example. It means bringing the kingdom of Heaven near to earth and showing people what it really means to live in the love of God.

I don’t imagine many of us quite live up to that though, LOL. I know that when I consider sinners–and let’s consider some really grievous ones, like those who hurt and abuse children, murderers, people who prey on the elderly–my first response to hearing about them is anger. Frustration. Disgust. I hate the sin, that’s for sure. And I want them to repent so they’ll stop doing it, stop hurting people. But it’s for the sake of those other people. The victims. In my natural state of reaction, I’m more concerned with the stopping than why they’re stopping. So if they’re arrested, awesome. Killed? Meh. I just want it to end.

This is natural. But it’s not what Christ modeled, and that’s something that’s been convicting me lately. He didn’t just want a sinner to stop sinning because of who they hurt. He wanted sinners to stop sinning because that sin stood between them and God. He wanted them to stop so that they could experience salvation. He wanted them to stop because He loved them.

But how did He approach this?

From what I can tell, He just focused on the love. When He saved the life of the woman caught in adultery, He didn’t have to sit her down and explain to her why adultery was wrong, did He? He didn’t look her in the eye and say, “I love you, but I hate what you’re doing.” He didn’t try to convince her of anything. All He did was offer forgiveness. All He did was refuse to condemn her. All He did was set her free and tell her to go, live her life, and sin no more. Now, I imagine “stop committing adultery” was pretty easy to check off her list. But sin no more doesn’t just mean the one sin she was caught in, did it? That woman would have gone home and embarked on a lifelong journey to figure out what “sin no more” really means. And she would have done it, because she understood that He was calling her to something higher. Because He loved her enough to save her life.

How do we approach the sinners who cross our paths? I think far too often, we focus on hating the sin. We say we love the sinner, but what we really mean is that we want them to stop sinning so that we can love them. We want them accept Christ so that they can be washed clean and then enter into fellowship with us. But we have it backward. We need to love them first. Just as they are. Love them messy, stinky, dirty, selfish, greedy, violent, hateful, bitter, perverted, nasty. Love them because they are a child of God, a bearer of His image, and He loves them so much He gave His Son’s life for them. He loves them so much, and just wants them to come home. Now, when they enter His mansion, they’ll see how spotless it is, how gleaming, how pure, and they won’t be able to help but look down at their own hands and see the filth there. Let Him do that work, that convicting.

We just need to focus on the love. My new mantra is going to be “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” Which is to say, “Just love the sinner.” I need to focus on the love, not the hate. Because if I truly love them, it will include wanting better for them. It will include wanting them to reconcile with the father. But it will focus not on what they’re doing, but rather on their heart and soul. On who they are beneath the actions.

How can you demonstrate love today to the worst among us?