No respecter of persons.......(warning: this post may cause heart burn....

Alternate Title: Do as I do and not as they Do!

Tonight I was thinking about how I am thankful that God's love and grace is all- inclusive. This is the Good News of the Gospel, the message of Christ. But what about those who have preached a message of exclusiveness or those who by their own beliefs have condemned some of us to Hell. What about the extreme right and fundamentalist. Those who cause anger to rise within me because of their message and ignorance.

The hard to swallow truth is that they are also loved by God and are his children as well. I remember reading a favorite author of mine in the early days of my ministry who said,"It is true the Truth will set you free but first, it will make you miserable." Although they may not recognize me as a child of God, I must recognize them as one. Ouch!

Thankfully for all of us, God meets us where we are. He overlooks our ignorance, weakness and sometimes plain stupidity. Now God is committed to our growth and that is why God will not even leave us alone in our prejudice of those who are not inclusive or progressive. Now I am not called to convince them or convert them but I am called to love them. This is the stuff of spiritual growth and maturity, being able to love beyond our own ideas and group and to see God in those who we have a hard time dealing with.

Now for myself as a reformed recovering former pentecostal Charismatic it is easier for me to love those who hold such staunch fundamentalist ideals. It is because of the Love, Grace and PATIENCE of God I came to see and repent (change my way of seeing and thinking). It also helped when I discovered that I was now the type of person who many of my peers considered an abomination and outcast. The truth is in many ways I was the same person, just now more fabulous (sorry, but humor me for that).

I will confess, I still have a hard time with the hatred, prejudice and ignorance of many of my brothers and sisters. But I still recognize that we have a lot in common as well. We are still a work in progress. God has a plan for all of us. God desires to change all of our hearts and minds to cause us to think and love like he does. This is a tall order but we serve a big God, and I will step up first if necessary to have more faith in God's ability to work in both their lives and mine and hopefully we will all become more like Christ.....