Too little

One of the things I liked the most about Billy Graham was that he never seemed to preach from a point of condemnation. He wasn’t interested in anyone’s present or past condition and instead concentrated on what they could become after they accepted Christ as their Savior. He preached that no matter what someone has done, Jesus stands ready and willing to forgive and to forget.

I have seen many interviews with this great evangelist and I’ve never heard him condemn anyone, no matter how incendiary the topic. I’ve seen reporters bait him with issues like homosexuality, abortion, race, adultery, famous people who had committed crimes, and the like and yet steadfastly he would never speak disparagingly about any person and would eloquently change the subject to Jesus likety-split. He viewed sins and sinners as distinctly separate issues and treated them as such. Basically his entire mantra was centered on mercy and grace and he consistently espoused compassion and not condemnation.

I became a believer through reading the Bible. As a hardened person I was moved by Jesus Christ and His compassion for people, especially the downtrodden and those reviled by society. Jesus was humble and full of understanding, love, and always ready to forgive and forget no matter what someone’s social status or what they had done.

I think too many Christians, (me included), have missed this point about Jesus Christ and our desire to be like Him. Our world is definitely not filled with love, compassion, and the like, but unadulterated hatred. I have lived nearly six and a half decades and have never seen the United States as divided nor have I ever seen as much hatred spewing among its citizens. I envision that this must have been how it was when the civil war developed way back in the 1800’s.

I wish we could all be like Billy Graham or better yet like Jesus Christ the perfect example of how our attitudes should be. As the song says, “What the world needs now is love sweet love, it’s the only thing that there’s just too little of”

Think about it today will you? Have a great weekend!

Luke 23:34
Then Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.