I was sitting at Costco one day, waiting for my new tires to be installed. An older gent was also sitting there, and we began to chat. During the course of our conversation, he asked me what I did. I told him I was a Lutheran pastor. He didn’t know anything about the Lutheran part, but he sure understood the pastor bit. Rather loudly—he was hard of hearing—he stated, “I have nothing to do with the church. Left it years ago. Always fighting and judging. A horrible bunch.” He did add, “nothing personal against you,” which didn’t make me feel any better.
I thought how sad it was that this man and probably as result his whole family had such a sour experience with God’s family. And he was right. There have been far too many fights within the church; far too much judging as to who is or isn’t worthy of admittance to our fellowship. Where is the love Jesus instructed us to have?
The old gent was within his rights. Jesus gave the world a criterion—love—by which to judge who was a disciple or not. How are we doing?
Lord Jesus, forgive us for our foolish fighting and hurtful judging. Help us love one another instead. Amen. —