We’re cool with forgiving people. But forgiveness has a statute of limitations.
That’s because we’re not actually loving people. We’re focused on changing people, not even to look more like Jesus, but to look more like ourselves. We feign love as a carrot to get people to do what we want. We’ll bring a sinner to church … but they had better repent on our timeframe, or else our love runs out. See, “hating the sin” is our cute little loophole to excuse us from actually loving sinners. Our vision starts blurring so we can’t see people, only sins.
Why does Jesus tell us to forgive 70 times seven (essentially, infinitely)? Because some people will never become what you want them to be. Some people (not you, I’m sure) will remain sinners, no matter how much they pray for God to take their sin away. Some people will remain broken and offensive and wrong and will need your love, forgiveness and compassion until they die.
Hanging Out With the Wrong Crowd
So back to the original question—Who are the “wrong” people for us to be hanging out with, showing compassion to? We could pick out a few obvious choices. The panhandler on the bridge. The crazy cat lady across the street.
But the world is packed with “wrong” people. You don’t have to go far to find them.
There are plenty of sinners who act wrong. There are millions of people who believe wrong and vote wrong. The internet is full of bloggers whose opinions are wrong. I’m sure I’m one of them from time to time. There have been days when dozens of people line up to tell me so.
Jesus hung out with the “wrong” crowd. Maybe we’re supposed to show compassion to people who are … wrong.
Maybe the first words out of our mouths or keyboards aren’t supposed to be, “You’re wrong!” If you only show love to people who agree with you, who act like you and sin like you, then you don’t have to show much love.
The greatest love isn’t shown when two people agree. It’s when they are convinced that the other is wrong.
