I think, as Christians, we often portray the wrong ideas to non-believers. Some of us see Christianity as a list of rules we are supposed to follow. Some of us look to false teachings and believe untrue things. Some of us even preach hate instead of love.
Yes, the Old Testament is a whole list of rules, and read out of context, it can make Christianity seem scary and push people away. But the New Testament changed that. Jesus came and took all of our sin and weight and burdens and took it onto himself. He realized that we are human. That we are going to break the rules, and that it is OK. And although it may be hard for us to understand, Jesus made sure that no matter what we have done or what we will do, he will love us.
Ephesians 3:12 “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
Paul is telling us to look to God with freedom and confidence. That contradicts the idea that we are forced to follow these strict rules, and if we break them we can’t be loved by God. We are free. We no longer have to worry about being separated from God because Jesus came and bridged the gap.
So as believers, I challenge us to stick up for love. To draw people to Jesus, by loving people despite differing political views, different races, or even different beliefs. The world is filled with so much hate, but we have to move past that. We have to stop being separated. We have to stop believing that God only loves the people who do right. We have to stop talking about other people’s sins in a negative way. We are one race, the human race, and we need to start acting like it.