You know something? I am so tired of people, particularly Christians, focusing a lot of time and energy on bashing and banning lifestyles they don’t agree with. It’s all I see these days. Frankly, it’s pretty much all I’ve ever seen. And I think it’s time to change.

Please can we focus more on what we stand for and less on what we stand against? I’m willing to wager that we could reach people better that way. Nobody wants to hear that they’re wrong. And I can guarantee you if you if that’s the first thing you say to someone and it’s all you focus on, you will turn them off right away.

There’s a reason people hate Christians. It’s because they believe Christians hated them first. That’s not the case. At least it’s not the case for real Christians. Christians who are truly following after Christ love everyone. We’re commanded to love our neighbor. Yes our gay, drunkard, sexually active, abortion having neighbors. And yes, part of loving them is gently letting them know that we believe their lifestyle is wrong (and why we believe it’s wrong – that’s a big part). But that has to be done in a loving way. And it shouldn’t be the one and only thing we focus on.

For example, instead of defunding planned parenthood because we’re against abortion, what if we created resources and education for women in those situations because we’re for life, love, and support of fellow humans? We could encourage women considering abortion and show them that there are other options.

Instead of picketing weddings and refusing marriage licenses because we’re against homosexuality, what if we we welcomed these people into our bible studies and explained why we believe what we do because we’re for love and compassion and bringing all people to know Christ?

Instead of talking about what we shouldn’t wear using a dress code, list of rules, and body shaming, what if we made the modesty conversation about the things we should wear. Things like humility (1 Peter 5:5-6), strength and dignity (Proverbs 31:25), and the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).

Again, I understand that there are some situations where we need to teach what we’re against or what we don’t agree with. But that shouldn’t be the focus. If we focus on the positive, I really believe we will be much more approachable and see better results.

What do you think? Have you seen this problem? Do you think we could do better?
Thanks for reading!