Sunday, February 10, 2008

A test: Are you loving or unloving?

Here’s a quick and simple six-question test to see if you’re loving or unloving.

1). You’re sitting in a coffee shop when a woman at another table gets up–leaving her coffee unattended–to get a napkin. As she does, a man walk by her table, drops some pills into the woman’s coffee, and quickly exits the shop. You immediately warn this woman of what just happened.

This is:
A. Loving

B. Unloving. This is none of your business. Quit interfering with other people’s lives.

A small child runs toward a bush to retrieve his ball that rolled into it. You know that the bush contains a rattlesnake nest. You yell out for the kid to stop!




This is:
A. Loving

B. Unloving. Who are you to impose your “beliefs,” “values,” and “morals” onto this kid. His parents have a right to raise him how they see fit without your close-minded views being forced down his throat.

You are woken to the sounds of fire alarms and the smell of smoke in your apartment complex. As you hastily exit your apartment, you notice that no one has alerted your neighbors who are elderly and very hard of hearing. You bang on their door (and even kick it in if necessary) to alert them of the pending doom.

This is:
A. Loving.

B. Unloving. Have you considered that perhaps this couple is happy where they are? Why wake them from their slumber? If they’re happy, then leave them be.

On a dark and rainy night you observe a family in a car heading home in the direction of a washed-out bridge. You holler and flail your arms–making every effort you can–to get their attention to warn them.




This is:
A. Loving

B. Unloving. All roads lead to their house. Who are you to tell them that the way they’ve chosen is wrong?

While sitting in your car waiting for a friend who’s in a bank, you observe a man walk into the bank holding a shotgun and wearing a ski mask. You call 911.





This is:
A. Loving

B. Unloving. “Judge not lest ye be judged!” Who are you to judge this man’s heart. Maybe his intentions are good and he will do no harm to those inside. You’re always so negative and have no faith in other people. You’ve condemned this man already. Jesus would have never done that, He would have befriended him. You need to be more like Jesus.

Your friend, neighbor, coworker, local cultist, etc. is going to die in his sins and find himself in Hell for eternity. You share the fact that their sins will condemn them before a holy and just God and that we deserve His very wrath because we’ve transgressed His laws. You further explain that any of his attempts to purchase God’s forgiveness by his own obedience to the Law or good works is futile because not only are we are saved by faith–apart from the works and the Law–but His grace is a gift. You share with them that God has provided grace, mercy, and unmerited favor, but his is only found in His Son, Jesus Christ who ransomed us with His own blood. You tell him that Jesus became a propitiation for sinful mankind to absorb the wrath of God that we rightly deserve. You urge him to repent; putting his trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
This is:
A. Loving.

B. Unloving. Insert any or a combination of all the other “B” answers from above here: _____.