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[depthofpassion]

“Too sad to talk...too tired to care. Just wondering how many times the human heart can be broken? :'( And when does one stop coming back for more? Why is it the more you care, the less the ones you love care? Why does their self-destruction affect others more than them? How do I begin to be as careless as others...

Comments

[hurla]

Christina, I know exactly how you feel. I've really been struggling with this lately, too. At what point when you see a brother or sister in Christ making destructive choices blatantly opposite of what God requires of us do you step in, speak up and say something? When are you being the iron that sharpens iron, and when are you being judgmental? I still don't know, but like you, I want to believe that I would want someone to lovingly remind me of my duty to God and others. I've been studying what Scripture says about backslidden Christians, and it is so harsh. It is death of a sort. God must feel for His children who have turned away what we feel when someone we love (who is a Christian) dies. Even though we know that we will see them again, the separation for a time is so painful and deeply sorrowful. And that is only our finite heart that feels. How must God feel?

[depthofpassion]

Mmm, yes, lots of good insight. I've been looking in Scripture, too, trying to follow the model that Jesus sets in Matthew, but also just looking at the many examples he sets throughout the Gospels. I see two methods: (1) the harsh, honest method he uses with the Pharisees etc. and (2) the softer, compassionate, but still stern treatment of prostitutes, tax collectors, and his followers. I think a lot it comes down to motive (but doesn't everything?). I keep doing heart checks when I'm trying to figure out what to do with those around me--am I confronting them for my sake or God's. It's helped