Romans 12:17-21
There's a group of Christians out there who call themselves the "red letter Christians" meaning that they emphasize the teachings of Jesus. These Christians would usually be called proponents of the social gospel by those who call themselves fundamentalist Christians because they teach that it is not just what you believe but how you act on that belief. They also tend to emphasize social justice as part of evangelism and the cost of discipleship as part of salvation. I have to say that I am attracted to the red letter Christians - I think what they say makes a lot of sense and I am personally challenged by them in regard to my lifestyle and what I emphasize in my teaching. My problem is that their very name tends to de-emphasize the rest of the Bible (as if all we needed to be "good" disciples of Christ is the gospels).
The truth is that the teaching of "red letter Christians" is found throughout the Bible and this passage is an excellent example.
Can you imagine if followers of Jesus started living out what Paul calls us to here? To not take revenge, to feed our enemies and to not retaliate with force but to overwhelm evil with good. What would our world look like? What if we did whatever we could to live at peace with people? What if we weren't so concerned with us being treated fairly and were more concerned about others being treated fairly? I think that we would really stand out! Maybe then we'd be the "light of the world" that Jesus said we were.
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I was reading the letters to the editor in Readers Digest re: the Elzabeth May issue. The writer said "In regards to Elizabeth May's statement that the Bible does not mention abortion, it also does not mention May's pet project - the disparity between rish countires and poor countries." I wanted to yell out, "Have you read the Bible?" I just finished reading Paul's appeal to churches to raise funds for the impoverished Jerusalem church. That was their known world at the time. Out known world is much larger but the same principal applies.
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