There are two kinds of people: people who are followers of Christ and people who are not followers of Christ.

As followers of Christ, we are bound to certain expectations. Just read Romans 6:1-11 if you don’t believe me.

“1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Jesus calls us to a new way of life; a pure and holy way of living. We have new standards to live by and we are given the tools we need to live this way through Jesus Christ. Thankfully though, when we fail to live up to these standards we are forgiven. Jesus is full of opportunity and second chances.

Why am I telling you about this? Because one thing I see so often in the Christians spheres is a misunderstanding of whom these standards are meant for.

One thing that non-believers hate, and when I say hate I mean hate, about Christians is how judgmental they are. Our pointing out what their sins are and our brow beating them with our doctrine is a total turn off. No one likes to be made a fool of, nor do they like feeling inferior. Donald Miller came to this realization and shares his view on how we should love everyone, even the homeless guy who can’t get a job because he was a felon or the dumb jock that tells dirty jokes and beats up little kids.

We are supposed to love everyone just as Jesus does. We cannot expect people who do not know Jesus and do not know the glorious way of righteous living to live their lives in a holy way. I can’t judge the lost soul for stealing bread when he doesn’t know that with God he will never be hungry. I can’t look down on the prostitute for selling her body because she doesn’t know that there is a loving God that has placed a value on her body higher than any currency. The unsaved are not held up to the same example that we have in our lives as the children of God.

We are also called to love those who are in our spiritual family. Even at times when we don’t agree with their beliefs, those who believe in pre-destination vs. those who believe in free will for example, we are still called to love one another as ourselves. (Mark 12:31) Miller, although he doesn’t agree with their beliefs and doesn’t like all of their personalities, takes it upon himself to love those “wacko Republican fundamentalists.”

Even though we are to love each other at all times and we cannot hold the non-believers to the same example we hold ourselves, the believers, up to, we do not have to tolerate the wrong behavior of our brothers in Christ. God goes so far as to say in 1st Corinthians 5: 11, “But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler – not even to eat with them.” There is a difference between tolerance and love. I can love Mark the “cussing pastor” but that doesn’t mean I have to condone his behavior.