WE CAN ACCEPT WITHOUT APPROVING
Randall Massie

“What’s a person to do? You can’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood.” His voice quivered with emotion as deep disappointment and love flowed in the same breath.

Perhaps you’ve heard these discomforting words from a friend. Some of you may experientially understand this parent’s pain. As I listened my mind traveled back to Jerusalem, to the temple courtyard. There sat Jesus, quietly teaching his disciples. But he was rudely interrupted as a woman, caught in adultery, was heartlessly thrust before him. Her pious accusers skeptically inquired of Jesus what to do with this one so stained with sin. Jesus answered, “If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to stone her.”

After the last accuser walked away, Jesus tenderly spoke those precious words of hope, “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.” Divine acceptance and redemptive disapproval were intermingled in our Lord’s response.

I looked again at my friend. I realized that he was demonstrating the heart of Jesus. He understood that acceptance wasn’t approval. He was struggling to accept his child as Christ had accepted him (Ro. 15:7). He refused to turn his back on his own flesh and blood.

Although He had every right to, God didn’t turn His back on us. Though He disapproved of our sin, and still does, He made possible the bridge of reconciliation through Jesus. He died for us when we were still in a state of sin. All those who respond in faith to the Son of God become sons of God themselves. They become family, our Lord’s own Body.

How pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in unity, and encourage family members to think for themselves and develop their own unique talents. Yet our dysfunctions often lead to disunity. Family will not usually turn their backs on family over drug abuse, but they sometimes do if one abuses “the silence of Scripture” and considers instrumental music a matter of opinion. They accept their daughters who become pregnant out of wedlock but may excommunicate their daughters who adopt a different view of the millennium. They excuse their sons who are alcoholics but often turn their backs on their sons who are filled with the Holy Spirit rather than with wine.

Could this be what Jesus had in mind when He spoke of those who would strain gnats and swallow camels? It appears that many have confused acceptance and approval. It seems that some have gone so far as to believe that one’s conduct is less important than one’s conscience, so long as the conscience conforms to the thinking of those in authority.

Please understand that I’m not advocating that we turn our backs on those who fall into moral error. I am saying that we should quit turning our backs on those whom we perceive to have fallen into mental error. If Jesus can accept without approving, so can we who follow in His steps.—Church of Christ at Walnut Street, Box 465, Howard. Pa. 16841