Dropping Our Stones — A LifeWords Devotion

When we think of witnessing to the world about Jesus, our minds may have thoughts of evangelistic events, introductory courses, persuasive dialogue, various good works in the community. All of which is fine. But Jesus wants to put things in a broader context. He says that how we love one another within the Christian community is what makes our witness in all these other ways valid.

It is not as if a failure to love means we are not Christians. Rather it means that the watching world has the right to conclude we are not Christians. A church which is stricken with internal civil war is no advertisement for Jesus. Churches which throw stones at other churches and rubbish the way they do things are no advertisement for our faith.

We can legitimately question other traditions, though if that questioning is public, we need to be very careful in the tone and tenor of our questioning. We can validly believe our own church tradition has a good grasp of biblical truth, though not to the extent of our believing we alone are holders and keepers of all truth. It seems God is quite content to let different churches go their different ways. It is not our place to smooth out his plans.

So, while we may witness to the world in many ways, make sure that we do so out of a loving Christian community, mindful that Jesus is not that fussy about how we meet or even the finer points of doctrine. Arguing and quarrelling drains our energy. And as Jesus says elsewhere, only those without sin can cast the first stone. So, let’s drop the stones.

Blessings,