FredMcKinnon.Com

Friday’s are not typically a super-busy blog day, and perhaps it’s good that I’m writing this today, as it could be controversial.

Here’s the deal.  I don’t think that Christians call each other out quite enough.  My “call each other out” I mean … you know:

*correct, spur, challenge, rebuke.

I recently “called out” a brother in Christ.  I’d been noticing a certain tone and use of slang and abbreviations in his Tweets.  I’d seen one too many “WTF” exclamations and decided I’d call it out.

Granted, each of us have our own standards of what convicts us and what doesn’t.  I suppose what you consider to be coarse language could be subjective, since the Bible doesn’t give us a list of “don’t say that” words.  I also know how cool it is to be “free” of rules.  I also know how rad it is to talk about how unimportant something like that may be in the “grand scheme” of things.

My problem?  Everytime I would see that, I’d say/hear/think that word in my mind.

With much reservation, I said “hey, this sort of bothers me, and I want you to pray and consider it”.  (paraphrase).

A couple of other things I did:
#1.  I made sure he knew I was challenging him in the love of Christ, and to spur us to excellence and holiness
#2.  I made sure he knew that I didn’t consider myself perfect, and was constantly getting challenged myself
#3.  I gave license for this person to “call me out” anytime.

In my case, my friend and brother replied graciously. Fact is, I know this dude, and his heart is golden.   I mean, G-O-L-D-E-N.

So, I can hear it now … “judge not, or you will be judged”.  I’ve heard that Scripture taken out of context a gazillion times.

Aren’t we supposed to hold one another accountable?  Aren’t we called to challenge one another, spur one another towards holiness?
And guess what … if I wait until I’ve got my own act together … or you wait until you’ve got your stuff together, we’ll all walk around only half as we should.

There’s a difference in harsh, critical judgment … “taking the thorn out of your eye rather than the plank in my own” and loving, encouragement.

This is from Christian to Christian.  Yeah, I’m not into calling out and judging those outside the Kingdom of God.

I think that if we’d all get over the fear of being seen as “holier than thou” and start leading and encouraging one another … even with a loving rebuke or correction …  that the Body of Christ would be stronger … more holy … and with that … comes the POWER.

Thoughts?