Hi everyone! I hope you’ve had a good week and weekend!
For this week’s Start your week off RIGHTeous, I knew what topic I wanted to talk about. So here is this week’s verse.
1 John 5:16
“If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life.”
Since we are finally having Spring weather, there have been street preachers standing around on campus. They have their sign, their suit, and their loud voice. Screaming at the top of their lungs to anyone who will listen. But the thing is, they aren’t screaming uplifting words. Instead, they’re yelling about how campus is full of sin and how college students are trashy, sinful, and every other awful description. Today, I heard him yell something along the lines of that “Purdue is known for it’s perverted and sinful students”.
I thought Purdue was known for its engineering program, Neil Armstrong, aviation program, the paint crew, agriculture, etc.?
When I have to walk past the street preacher I get an overwhelming feeling of frustration and anger. I know what he’s yelling isn’t loving words. It isn’t worthy to God. It isn’t full of the fruits of the spirit. What he’s yelling isn’t building others up. He isn’t going to reach people that way. And it really saddens me that sometimes he’ll have a large crowd of college students gathered around him. Innocent students who are hearing the wrong perception of Christianity. The wrong perception of what our God can do. And the students aren’t gathered around him to learn about God. No, they’re gathered around him to mock him and to yell foul language. Last week I heard a girl yell, “Well maybe I like hell!” Why did she yell that? Because he said that was where we were all going to go if we don’t repent now. But it isn’t his place to say that. God is the judge. It isn’t the street preachers place to yell at college students and to back them against a corner with nowhere to go. They will not look to God if someone is screaming at them about how sinful they are. God forgives sins. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Tell them that! Tell them that great story and how they’re forgiven! Don’t pin them in a corner and tell them they’re going to Hell. Build them up instead of tearing them down.
Instead, we should pray for those people. Pray for college students. And even pray for the street preacher. That’s what God tells us to do. Pray and he will give them life.
Praying for some light in the world,
Ciara
SincerelyC 