Failing the Test

I have been having a discussion with a young man whom I have developed an enormous amount of respect for. At 15 he is more mature than most of us on here and has brought several points to light where we have failed the test. You see Jesus said, "By this men shall know that you are my disciples, that you love one another." This enormous test epitomizes the true believer. Yet we deny the very essence of this command. Oh' we have no problem loving those who are lovable but everybody can do that and what profit is there if you only love those who love you, as Jesus pointed out, even the world does this. We claim to love our family, yet many of us spend more time away from them at work than we do with them and then we wonder why we can't communicate with our children. We claim to love those who go to church with us, yet many of us have never been to their houses nor have they been to ours. We claim to love our neighbor but we reserve that love only for those of the same nationality as we are. No, the truth is we have failed the test. As we have walked down the street we have crossed over to the other side so that we couldn't see the man lying in the ditch. We have done this so we wouldn't have to feel guilty for not helping him. Jesus got down on His knees to wash His disciples feet yet many of us won't even shake hands with certain people. We walk around as the Pharisee wearing our cloak of righteousness and then wonder why we don't have revival in our churches. The test was not seeing how many bodies they could get into the church, the test was how their love affected those coming to Christ. Jesus didn't ignore the prostitute caught in the act, He forgave her. He didn't turn away the adulterous women, He gave her living water. He didn't condemn the ten lepers, He healed them even though only one would return to give thanks. He didn't congregate with the wealthy, He ate with the sinners. He didn't give us what we deserved, He spread His arms and allowed them to nail Him to the cross. Oh, many of us would have refused to go to the cross after all they aren't appreciative. Their not going to use the gift the way we think they should. Oh, they'll just run and hide as soon as it all begins. These people don't deserve the sacrifice I am willing to give, it just ain't worth it but He remained. He shed His blood! He endured separation from the Father so we wouldn't have to and all He asked was for our obedience and we can't even do that, and we consider others to be ungrateful. We look at where they come from and judge them based upon that and leave them hanging at the edge of the cliff ready to plummet into hell while we sit back and claim that if they really wanted to change they could get out of their situation, after all, I pulled myself up by the bootstraps. I worked hard for what I have and I am not sharing it with anybody. We pat ourselves on the back for having a food pantry but once we hand out the food we don't go see those we have served. We brag about our rebuilding of houses in disaster areas but ignore the neighbors house that is falling down around them. We interact with people at church but the rest of the week we dread Sunday because we might have to talk to them and hear their problems. We shut our parents up in nursing homes so we can have a life without worrying about them. Yes we have failed the test because if that is the way people know that we are His then there aren't many of His disciples in the world today. I am ashamed! I am ashamed at the way that we have blasphemed His name among the Nations and the way that we have treated people. I am ashamed that we don't have people on the streets every night attempting to reach out to a lost and dying world and I include myself in that shame. I am ashamed that we refuse to reach into our pockets ourselves and rely on the church to take from the tithes and offerings which was meant for the spread of the gospel and not the meeting of the needs of others. I am ashamed that we have 15 year old kids who cannot see the love of God being reflected in the faces of those who are supposed to be called by His name. It is no wonder people can't see the truth in the word of God, it is because we have aided in blinding them. We walk around all pious looking as if we just got done sucking on a lemon and wonder why people don't want to be like us. We make disparaging remarks against the man that God put into the white house and wonder why we are under attack by others when David repented for cutting a section off of the robe of God's annointed. Paul tells us that not even the angels speak against those who God has put into power, yet we are bent on bad mouthing them to the detriment of the gospel and wonder why we can't reach these people. We failed the test! We fail the test because instead of putting our trust in God we put it in our 401K or our jobs and investments. We tell people they should be content with what they have but we are busy gathering up all we can and then wonder how people could get into financial difficulties. We refuse to pay an honest wage for an honest days work yet we want top dollar for our products. We overcharge those who go to church with us because after all they are paying for the privilege of hiring a Christian. Many of us have betrayed Christ for a lot less than thirty pieces of silver and the result has been countless souls lost. We have failed the test but if He hasn't already cut you off of the vine there is still time to begin to produce fruit. There is still time to repent and be obedient to His commands but it is going to take complete surrender to Him because if you aren't willing to give all you are simply taking up space on the vine. Consider the fig tree that produced no fruit for three years. The owner commanded that it be cut down but the servant requested another year. He said he would dig around it and ferilize it and then after the year if it didn't produce fruit he would concede on having it dug up. Are you in that final year of being fruitless? The evidence is condemning against many of us and I pray that we will turn to Him. We have enough of these pointless blogs being posted preaching a prosperity gospel that is from the pits of hell because all we are promised is that if the world hated Him, it will hate us. He told Paul that He would show him the things he must endure for His names sake. What are you willing to endure?