A by-product of keeping a record of wrongs is that it totally breaks down unity within the body of Christ. We have Christians pointing fingers at one another and harsh words been spoken to each other and about one another. Very often this is done under the guise of speaking the truth. However any truth expressed outside of the love of Christ may be factually true but will not have the healing and restorative effect that a true word spoken in love in God’s timing will have. The result of this is that we have a body of believers that in many instances are practicing self-mutilation. By this I mean that as Christians we are all part of the same body. In the natural we wouldn’t cut off a finger from our hand if it was hurting. We would want it to be healed because that hurting finger causes the whole body to experience pain. However as Christian we are quick to attack and discard members of the body who are broken and hurting. We need to make sure that we are restoring them to wholeness by allowing the love of Christ to be expressed in us and through us. There are many programs and religious steps that are followed but without the Love of Christ this is merely empty words (clanging cymbals) void of transformational power.

I am not in any way suggesting that Christians should be running around committing wrongful acts or that we should ignore such actions. However we need to deal with it in love in accordance with the Word of God. We can’t say to people from the pulpit that if they have any issue that they must feel free to discuss it with the leadership and when they do they are immediately judged and in many instances ostracised. This leads to people feeling rejected and does not allow them to experience the restorative power that is manifested when the Love of Christ is released into a situation.

Erick Bouwmeester