I was listening to a recent “webinar” by Lance Wallnau in his online teaching course, and in looking up a passage in the the Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Romans, an adjacent chapter leapt out at me and so captivated my attention that it was like the words were literally jumping off of the page. I suppose you would call that the prompting of the Holy Spirit. At any rate, I got so excited about what I was reading (and I’m no stranger to Romans, BTW) that I just had to blog about what I found.

Before I tell you to go pick up your trusty, well-worn Holy Bible and scan through a pile of verses, I want to back up and try something a little bit different. I am going to extract what I read into a simple summary of points, and as you read through these points, I want to you to ask yourself if this is how Christianity is perceived by the world today (and when I say the “world” I mean the unchurched people in the West who are not particularly friendly towards our faith).

In this passage, Paul extorts Christians to conduct themselves thus:

• Let love be genuine.
• Love one another with brotherly affection. (And of course “sisterly” affection.)
• Outdo one another in showing honor. This one bears repeating: outdo one another in showing honor.
• Contribute to the needs of the saints (i.e., those who are part of the Body of Christ) and seek to show hospitality.
• Bless those who persecute you, and do not curse them. If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if your enemy is thirsty, give him something to drink.
• Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
• Live in harmony with one another.
• Do not be haughty or conceited, but associate with the lowly (i.e., the undesirables, the untouchables).
• If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

I have a feeling that if someone walked into a community of people living together in the peace, love, and understanding that is described here, they would think they’ve stumbled onto a hippie commune rather than entered into the presence of the glorious Bride of Christ. Somehow the message of grace found in Christ has been obscured by the pride and arrogance of man, and what was supposed to be a message of freedom has become corrupted and turned into a spirit of bondage. And now those who are enslaved to the desires of the flesh and the schemes of the devil are the ones who are portraying the lifestyle of peace, love, and harmony in our modern culture.

Where did we go wrong? How has the Church stumbled so badly? Why aren’t Christ-followers the most loving, peaceful, harmonious, and understanding people on the planet? Why has Christian become a dirty 9-letter word and Pastor (which means father and is supposed to echo the lovingkindness of our Father in Heaven) become associated with a hypocritical bigot who preaches on Sunday and sins on Monday? How has the Gospel, which means Good News, become Bad News? Why does it seem sometimes like everything Jesus came to proclaim — that the Kingdom of Heaven is now here in our midst; that healing and deliverance and love and grace and joy and peace are now available to all through the redemptive power of the Resurrection of the Son of God — has been completely and utterly lost?

I get that there are hard aspects to the Christian faith, and I understand that we make exclusive and difficult claims about sin, death, and redemption. But it’s interesting to note that the central message of the four Gospels and of much of the other writings of the New Testament is focused on life in the Kingdom of God, not on hell and damnation — or even eternal life in some other plane after we die. Jesus came to proclaim Life — life here, life now. Abundant Life, with deliverance from bondage and freedom from sin and death and every evil thing done by the forces of hell. That is indeed Good News, and that is indeed a Gospel that I am very happy and excited to share with others.

So let love be genuine, as Paul says, and live in harmony with one another. May the word “Christian” become worthy of its grand heritage once again!

(P. S. In case you’re wondering, the passage I discussed above is Romans 12:9-21.)