on reading 1 Peter 2 and interviews with David Bazan...

random thoughts... from a sad heart:

"you will know them by their fruit" - Jesus talking to Jesus-followers about how to know if another person is a Jesus-follower.

"the world will know you are my disciples because you love one another." again, Jesus to his followers about how the not-Jesus-followers ("the world") will perceive those who belonging to Him.

but also, "if the world persecutes me, they will persecute you, too."  so, we should expect that we will not always be understood or appreciated.  On the contrary, we can expect to be opposed in our life missions to share Jesus' life and love.

and then, 1 Peter 2... "though the world may call you evildoers now, when God comes at the end, they will realize you were doing God's will all along." so, in our quest to do the right thing, we can expect that some will say we are doing evil.  whaaa???  for reals?   yeah.  somehow i forgot that in my people-pleaser, facebook-like-seeking existence.

we need to stop using the world's judgement to validate Jesus-followers' actions.  How did it come to this, that we look for approval from non-believers of Jesus as the standard by which we judge ourselves, or approve/condemn our brothers and sisters in Christ?!?  the world's opinion is of no importance!

among the body of believers, we are to use Holy Spirit-guided discernment and "speak the truth in love."  sometimes, that means we confront and do the 1 Corinthians "expel the immoral brother" thing.  Sometimes.  outside of the church, we're just supposed to love radically, like Jesus did, and tell the truth about who our holy, good, awesome God is, and make known the judgement to come against all evil, but also to proclaim the hope of rescue we have through Jesus.

Still, we are only works-in-progress, so we often don't serve and love those outside our community of faith very well.  And we often don't get loving each other right, either.

That, to me, is the most hurtful thing.

But right now, i want to remember this: as much as i do to be a peace-maker and "servant of all," and "live at peace with everyone as much as it is depends on you," in the end, it is only God's opinion that matters.

"well done, good and faithful servant.  come and enter into your Master's rest."