My twelve year old daughter begged me to watch a movie with her last night; she had seen a part of this movie at a friends house and wanted to watch it again to see the whole thing. There wasn't a whole lot going on around here, so I went to the video store and rented the movie. Little did I know that this movie (which was a good movie, by the way) would have a part that would drive me insane and bring back many memories.
The movie was about a little girl who was sick and her mother's struggle to have faith in God during this hard time. The little girl reminded me of my daughter and every time she screamed in agony "mommy, it hurts!" I would picture that being my daughter and cry out imaging the pain that this little girl and her mother felt. However, that wasn't the part that made my head hurt.
This family attended church and at the beginning of the movie it was obvious that they loved God and enjoyed worshipping Him. When the mother was struggling, however, she went to church and was approached by some people from the church. These people had an opportunity to help a fellow believer; they could've asked her if they could pray with her, or even just hug her and remind her that God is still in control. They chose an evil route instead. They looked at this poor tortured soul and said one of the most hateful things I've ever heard. They said "What sin is in your life that God is allowing your daughter to be so sick? Is it your sin or your husband's sin? Could it be that your little girl has sin in her life that is causing this?" Cruel... just cruel!!! The mother left and swore she would never return to that church. She also began to lose faith at that moment.
The reason this burns me up so bad is because I've been to "that" church before. I've personally witnessed people struggling in life and being told that if they would just get their hearts right with God things would be all happy for them. I have been that person who has struggled and wondered how I could serve God better so that things would go well for me. Praise God I now know that this is just chains of bondage and that is not the way that God works.
For people to behave that way is nothing but judgmental and damaging. Who are these people to speak for God? Remember when Jesus said "Let he who without sin cast the first stone" and everyone dropped their rocks and walked away? Even if there were sin in this family's lives that needed to be dealt with, this is not the way to handle it! We are to speak the truth in love; show mercy and acceptance. When are we going to stop judging and start loving each other again?
This really makes me sad; no angry! You see, as I said I was that person struggling. There was a time in my life when I said "God, I will never leave you, but I am so done with Your people!" I am still struggling to find my place in the church. Let's be honest, there is not a lot of acceptance amongst His people right now. It is because of people like this. Attitudes that want to point fingers and judge instead of love and be a support. God did not put us together so that we could hurt each other or judge each other. He wants us to lift each other up.
How church, how are we ever going to show the world the love of God if we can't even love each other?
