Should Christians Be Nice People?

in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit today a brief word on niceness it's not my custom traditionally to speak against Pleasant sounding things uh but niess I'm afraid has become something of an almost cultic ideology in modern society I'm not for a moment advocating and I wish to make this clear lest there be vitriolic reactions on the internet I'm not ADV a that Christian people should not be nice or kind of course that should be our goal but the Christian is called not to be nice to his neighbor but to love his neighbor there is no place in the gospel where we encounter our incarnate savior the Lord Jesus Christ saying go and be nice to the one who wrongs you go and be nice to your brother or to your father or sister or mother no go and love them and there is a difference between love and niceness niceness is an emotional sentiment it is an emotional activity when enacted niess is me being polite making you feel comfortable confirming that I care for you and so on and those again are good things and to be embraced but love takes them a step further love is a degree of care for the other person that says I must help you to be the best version of God's creation I must help you become that which you are meant to become As You Are Meant to help me become what I am called to become even if at times this means confronting in each other what hinders Us in the say love at times is very nice and very gentle and very patient love is at times very Fierce very strong and indeed very unpleasant there are times when love demands that we change there are times when love demands that we not continue that we not rest comfortably on our Laurels there are times when love demands that we recognize we are wrong and that if we carry on in our error we will suffer and arrive only at destruction and indeed a pretend love which will not speak that truth to the one who is the object of love is not love at all it's more a curse would we if we see someone walking into a path with a pit at the end would we feel ourselves loved to Simply say well since you're on the path keep going have fun or would it be more loving to grab them by the arm and say stop that path will lead you to destruction if we were a physician and we saw a beloved suffering from an illness and we knew that we had the Cure but we didn't give it because we thought they might be offended at being told they are ill would that be love or would it Rather Be Love to say look you have a sickness you have an illness and I know what the Cure might be if someone is doing a thing anything an act a thought a word and we know it is going to cause them suffering it is loving to help them out of it love is at times not a very nice or pleasant experience but it is the one that saves and for Christians we have all always as our ultimate example of this we have thousands and millions of examples over the course of our history but none will ever be greater than the example of God himself who so loved the world that he gave his only son Christ bled and died for love he died on the cross as an example as a manifestation of the love that he has and there is nothing Pleasant there is nothing nice about the condemnation of God to death there is nothing Pleasant nothing nice about crucifixtion there is nothing Pleasant or nice about being speared through with the Lance or dying and being laid in the grave but thus thus love required and by that suffering and by that pain and by what was not a very nice series of events Joy came into into the world Joy yes there was sorrow at the experience of this but that sorrow rendered Hearts pure and Minds clear and eyes open to see what was real and true and through the sorrow came lives healed and made whole and Sanctified by that love so brothers and sisters I pray we will become combatants active combat patters of the cult of niess be kind be nice but beyond that above that and far more important than that be a loving brother or sister to Those whom God places in your life build up that which is good and holy in them and help them out of that which is sinful and wrong thus they will be lifted up by you and you you through that act of love in return amen Patric nectar Publications is pleased to present enduring love laying Christian foundations for marriage marriage preparation together with the sacred institution itself has fallen on Hard Times in the postchristian west it is more important than ever for couples to saturate their hearts and Minds with the Glorious vision of holy matrimony presented by the church in holy tradition and lived by countless Saints here in these Pages couples will find inspired teaching from the holy scriptures the writings of the Holy fathers and the service text of the sacrament itself on how to live in a genuinely Christian marriage in which the home becomes a domestic Church through enduring love may God Inspire the hearts of those preparing to be married and and also those already 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Channel: PatristicNectarFilms

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Keywords: Patristic Nectar Publications, Patristic Nectar, Fr Josiah Trenham, Josiah Trenham, Orthodox, Orthodox Christian, Orthodox church, father josiah trenham, father josiah, patric nectar, nectar, patristic nectar films, father trenham, orthodoxy, christianity

Id: eXqR67C4Afc

Length: 7min 13sec (433 seconds)

Published: Wed May 29 2024