Who do you Love

I had a conversation with a guy the otherday and he was very upset at a friend or acquaintance of his. The guy thought he had been wronged by this friend and was literally saying he had a hard time not condemning this friend. I could relate - and explained a situation that took place in my past where I had the exact problem. What I had learned is that I could condemn the wrong but not the person. Jesus said, Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. Forgiving people is an affront to our sense of vengeance - but vengeance is God's not mine or anyone else's! So we should -as Christians- grieve more over the sin rather than avenge the wrongs suffered. The truth is we love ourselves more than we love other people and we fail to properly apply the gospel to and at them. The concern is more about the wrong done to us and not about what that person has done against God. We should want the other person to experience grace and not vengeance. 

    The opposite can be true as well rather than telling the truth and confronting others about sin, they hide behind a lame excuse "Man, I just want to love that person like Jesus. I don't want to hinder them from experiencing His love, and create conflict, I want community I don't want to point out their sin." Here is the problem - it isn't that you love the other person like Jesus. You love yourself more and you prefer to save yourself the trouble. Check out 2 Tim 2:24-25. We need to find the balance confront evil without condemning people.