You see, when you come against wrong...wrong doesn't like it.
To this day it is in my nature to defend people and confront wrong. Because of this, I have to deal a lot with criticism and hate from not only people who want to follow any new movement, wind, or doctrine that sounds good in the world today and who try to get others to follow too, but also from people who are wise in their own eyes, say they are a follower and representation of Him, but will post or speak a Joyce Meyer quote one minute and then post or speak a New Age, "I'm one with the universe you can be too" comment the next... The backlash I receive happens because I speak up against the false teachings they speak or post about. Not because I'm out there looking for it, but because when I read it or hear it...I can see, "This is not true, and this is going to hurt someone." I've been told I'm not loving. I'm hateful because I'm stirring up strife by pointing out the incorrect teaching. I'm a head hunter. I'm judgmental and critical. I'm apparently an awful lot of things lol. ...and my stroller is getting beat in all over again.
Well...let's talk about love. In this day and age...if you don't agree with something someone is saying, you apparently don't love them. If you don't let someone just do or say whatever they want to do or say knowing it will hurt them or others, without saying anything against it, you apparently don't love them. Someone recently said to me, "Let them be, when the blind lead the blind they both fall in the ditch." The reality is that a good and true friend or shepherd isn't going to let his loved one or sheep just fall in a ditch. A good and true friend or shepherd is going to do everything in his ability to not only protect the loved one or sheep but keep them from falling in a ditch. If I see someone I care about heading for a cliff... my first reaction is ...STOP... DON'T DO THIS... DON'T BELIEVE THIS... DON'T SAY THIS... THIS LEADS TO DEATH... THIS LEADS TO A WORLD OF HURT AND PAIN... STOP.
When my daughter was just two years old, we went to a friend's house to visit. I took my eyes off her for just two seconds, and she was gone. I was frantic. I searched the whole house in a panic. I could hear her little voice though, so I followed it. I ran to the front door where it was coming from and looked out...and to my horror, there was my little girl toddling right down the middle of the road as fast as her little legs could carry her. I ran out into the road, heart beating out of my chest and grabbed her up into my arms in relief. ...I can assure you though, she wasn't relieved. She wasn't the slightest bit happy with me. She was downright mad, throwing her little self every which way as I carried her to safety. She wanted to continue down that path...a path she thought was freedom and fun but one in which I could see would harm her.
I want to tell you today, pointing out an incorrect theology, a teaching that is false and doesn't line up with the Word, is not hatred. It IS love. It is not judgmental of the person or their heart...but rather uses righteous judgment of the theology rightly dividing the word of truth and lining it up. Love doesn't let someone keep believing a lie. Love tries to stop anyone else from seeing or believing something that is a lie. Love will look down the path and see that what is to come if continued down will hurt that loved one...and will do everything in its power to stop the loved one from continuing down it. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says, "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." You see, love can believe the very best in you...but still say don't believe a lie. Love can hope the very best for you...but still say don't believe a lie. Love will take the blows...if it means that you will be saved and protected in the process. I'm not perfect, no one is, but I can say without a shadow of doubt in my mind that I love and care about the people that God has placed in my life... and if it means I have to get my stroller beat in to help them safely run the race and win... then I guess my stroller gets beat in. Let's talk about love...real love! That's the heart of this "Wife of a Pastor."