It’s easy to preach religion than to practise it.
Few of us would be interested to listen to a harsh, double faced, callous, rude, unforgiving person preaching love, care and forgiveness. It’s revolting.
Heard the story of how an old woman asked Pope Francis for a blessing. The Pope gave her a discourse on how she had just attended church and was blessed etc, at the end of which she asked again for the blessing.
It made him realise that when people come to us for a blessing, just BE one.
Not just the talk, more action. They say sometimes that we are the Bible the world is reading many times. There is nothing more abominable to God and man than hypocrisy, spite, greed, deceit, favouritism, selfishness, insensitivity, jealousy and backstabbing within churches, homes and communities.
By our LOVE they should know we are Christians – not by what we preach but by what we practise.
It is one thing to teach something, it is another to live it. You teach what you merely KNOW, you reproduce what you ARE.
Time for a major clean up with the Holy Spirit – or it will be just another Lent come and gone.
Less of the trappings, finery and show; more sincerity and more of taking JESUS to people. MORE LOVE, less hatred.
Start with the ones you dislike.