What we Have Lost

We talk about justice, we forget mercy.We ask for fairness, and ignore the verses about forgivenessWe shout about our rights, and mock gentle answersWe instantly judge, not even bothering to think about the other side of the story.We have lost our kindnessWe have lost our gentlenessWe have lost or compassion
The past few weeks, I have been thinking a lot of how we as a Christian community have come to react to things. I watched as a friend on Facebook cheered the death of a criminal, ugly comments being made about our president, a dear friend of mine found her family receiving hate mail as a result of a news story.
It got me to thinking about how I respond to things, and how we as Christians respond. We (this includes me) to often fall into the trap of the Pharisees. Instead of mourning a wasted life, surrounding a criminal with prayer and love, we cast the first stone. Instead of being the first to offer the respect our leaders, no matter who they are, we are the first to hurl insults. We rush to judgment and forget to have compassion on the people behind the story.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35
But they don’t know us by our love. They know us by our political stances, and our fiery sermons meant to scare people. We are the first to judge our fellow Christians, and often abandon the ones who are hurting.
We have lost our love.

I for one plan to reclaim it: To love the sinners without condoning the sin, to stop shouting about my rights and start speaking with kindness, to give our leaders the respect they deserve, and to be slow to make a judgment. Will you join me?