i hope this helps all of us since we have ALL had moments that made us feel this way. i also hope that my comment touches on all portions of this post: your feelings and being kind!

these types of christians are what have kept me away from Jesus for so long! as i was reading your post a thought came to my mind… how would the pastor of that church feel if we knew his deepest, darkest secret and posted pictures of that on our vehicles. now i know that that comment is geared towards revenge which is not what christians are supposed to be about but that is the thought that crossed my mind.

The second thing that I thought once I realized revenge wasn’t the answer was “what should have been on the side of that van instead”? And then it hit me like a ton of bricks! A few months ago at our house of refuge we were watching a video that described a moment in jesus’ life. The passage that we were discussing was Luke 7:36-50 and it reads like this:

Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[a] and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

So I think a better sign to have on this van would be an illustration of this moment followed by the verse. This shows how jesus felt about kindness and faithfulness. Jesus new her sins and loved her in spite of them. He wanted us to be KIND, forgiving, and loving; not judgmental. That is what Christianity is supposed to look like and be about.

Kathy and others: whenever people (especially other Christians) question your right to be a Christian or make your question your right, PLEASE think of this passage. We all sin, but jesus loves us in spite of that. In this situation I think he would want us to not question our Christianity but to be a true Christian and forgive that church and pray for them that they may run across this verse and re-think what they are saying.

It is possible not only to be right-but-unkind, but also to be so focused on kindness that we do not stand up for what is right. Either extreme is a failure.

And somewhere between teenage justice and adulthood I lost my kindness. It slipped right by me because I have lots of compassion, and I confused it with kindness.

I didn’t even miss it til my kids, my sister, and my husband made we aware of it in the last couple of years. That’s what family’s for - thank God for them.

So now I am embarking on a return to kindness and a relearning of kindness. Thanks Kathy for this timely and spot on posting!