The other day I was reading a post on Facebook and it got me thinking about how many Christians make nonbelievers and immature believers think that God is nothing more than a dictator of rules and regulations. Some believers are so quick to point out all the dos and don'ts of Christianity. But I have to wonder if this is what God intended for us to do.

When a person is not born again our job as Christians should be to preach the good news. And what is the good news? Isn't it telling people about the love that God showed us by sending His son to die for us? Isn't it extending hope to the hopeless? We have all sinned and fell short of the glory of God, but because of Jesus' blood we can now have access to a holy God. And guess what. We don't have to do anything other than receive this free gift. We are saved by grace, through faith, and that is a precious gift given by God. It's not about following a set of rules. It's not about anything we can do now or in the future. I once heard a woman say that a certain young man couldn't possibly be saved because he had tattoos and piercings and his hair was not normal. She was a believer who had served God for more years than that boy had been alive. I was angry when I heard her say that. Shouldn't she know that salvation wasn't determined by those things?

As for the believer, we have the Holy Spirit who can guide us into all truth. That's not to say that other believers can't share what they have gleaned from the word over the years and possibly save us a lot of aggravation if we heed their instruction (after checking it out in scripture, of course). But when a person becomes so legalistic in the rules and leaves no room for God's mercy and grace, then it becomes an overbearing weight placed upon the shoulders of believers who may not be mature enough to handle that. I am reminded of the Pharisees we read about in Matthew 23. They went through all the motions of religion, didn't they? But apparently their motives were not to please God, but to be seen by men. Still, they acted all righteous, all the while making demands on people that they themselves weren't living up to. They were hypocrites. And often times, that is what we find on the other end of a pointing finger. Judgment is reserved for the one righteous judge. Now, this does not mean we can't be corrected. But correction must be given from God's word, and with gentleness. Certainly no one really likes to be corrected, but when we are seeking to do the will of God, we know that correction is for our benefit. And when it's done in a loving, merciful way, it displays characteristics of Christ. Those who gently correct, and who extend a little compassion and mercy are clearly in a relationship with the God they serve. They are seeking to magnify Him, to share His love, and not to be some power hungry minister who tells everyone what they must do.