The church is not a showroom; it is a workshop. The church does not look for righteous people, but for sinners and the broken to be transformed. We must learn to accept others as they are. Jesus Himself promised that He would not reject anyone who comes to Him (John 6:37). God receives every person. Yet in reality, there are moralists in the church who don’t give sinners a chance to know the truth and be saved. We must accept them. Only when a person leaves us and clearly refuses to repent does responsibility cease to be ours. But as long as they still sit and listen to the sermon and are willing to receive ministry, we must give them a chance to be changed and saved.
The attitude and spirit projected by the “holy people” in church often make sinners even less willing to repent because they feel the church is not a safe place. A true church makes sinners feel safe—not safe to continue in sin, but safe because they are accepted and can be transformed by God. If we can make good people better, that’s not surprising. But if we can make sinners good, that is extraordinary. Many people leave the church because they feel unwelcome, concluding they don’t belong among moralists who claim to be “holy.”
When Jesus welcomed sinners like Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1–10) or the sinful woman who anointed Him, religious leaders—the moralists who considered themselves holy—grumbled and accused Him. But Jesus ignored their attitudes. With admirable integrity, he received sinners. In the end, those sinners inherited the Kingdom of Heaven. The Apostle Paul urges believers to accept one another as Christ accepted us (Rom. 15:7; Eph. 4:2), so that we do not judge, condemn, or destroy one another. Such gentleness calms wrath.
Wherever we are, we will meet people who are hard to accept, and it is precisely there that God wants to widen our hearts. If our hearts were narrow before, God wants to expand them. Like a merchant who treats customers gently to sell his goods, we must dare to be gentle so people can be saved. We may receive no earthly crown for that attitude and struggle, but one day God will give the crown of life in the New Heaven and the New Earth.
We must learn to accept others because life is short; if we keep nursing hurt, bitterness, and rejection, our issues will never be resolved and may become inner sickness. We will surely meet people who don’t fit us. Therefore, we must begin by practicing gentleness within the family, then extend it to the extended family. The magnanimity to accept others as they are will channel power that blesses. This is not easy, but we must train ourselves to enlarge our capacity for the soul so we may have the greatness of heart like Jesus Christ.
Many conflicts in church, companies, and households arise from the inability to accept others as they are. Cultivate magnanimity. Even if we can retaliate or act, choosing not to—that is freedom. We must be servants who serve wherever we are. Difficult circumstances on earth will make us steadfast and strong, help us loosen attachment to this world, and make it easier to “fly” to heaven. Believe that God will not give a trial beyond our ability. God is just; do not repay evil with evil to anyone.
The Bible shows that Jesus could associate with society’s outcasts in His time. He was not like moralists who treated others harshly. Indeed, God hates sin, but He loves sinners. In social life—at church, work, school, campus, even at home—we will encounter people hard to accept, like thorns in the flesh. It is more painful if that “thorn” is our own spouse. Yet we can choose to make them a sparring partner, completing one another in the Lord. Here we learn to accept others as they are, and through that we will experience true freedom and liberty.