Learning To Weigh Our Options

One of the principles we have been taught here is to not expect a non-Christian to value or live out Christian principles. In other words, don’t expect a nonbeliever to live like a believer. They are not filled with the Spirit of God who enables us to live righteous lives. This is one of the main ideas of the book of Romans, that righteousness in only attainable by having the Spirit of God in us. Paul gives a stark contrast from his own life of prior to having the Holy Spirt (Chapter 7) and having the Holy Spirit (Chapter 8). He says in chapter 7, “I have the desire to do good, but I cannot carry it out.” He then goes on to say in chapter 8, “The law of the Spirit has set me free…the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace while the sinful mind is hostile to God.” With that said, this principle has really challenged the way I treat nonbelievers and the way I reach out to them. This was fleshed out directly last week in one of our Bible studies. The group leader began to gather people for the study into his shack (mainly unbelievers). He gathered one that was drunk and strung out, one that had a hangover, and one that couldn’t speak English into his little shack. As he went to gather the next I noticed that his girlfriend, whom was sitting with us now, was bleeding quite a bit from her head. I of course asked her what happened and she began to explain that her husband, the leader of the study, had just beat her because she was drunk. He then walked came back from gathering and sat down before I could say anything and he began the Bible study! Now this is the point of tension for me. Before, I would have immediately confronted this man and told him he can’t do that, even though he wasn’t a believer. This time however something in me told me to shut up and not say anything. The study began, and the craziest thing happened. All these nonbelieving drunk, strung out, wife beating, and even bleeding people began to pray, read God’s word, and express how they could be obedient to it. Each one of them engaged. It was one of the most odd experiences of my life. We sat for nearly and hour and afterwards they asked when we could do it again. In the end it hit me that if I had said something not only would it have only patched the situation (not fixing something that had probably been ingrained in him by the way his father and all those around him treated their wives), it would have embarrassed him and shut down the Bible study and not allowed God to have an avenue anymore to bring truth into their lives. Talk about paradigm shift! Isn’t so true though that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance!