Walking the Talk Pt. 2

Why do Christians have such a bad name in our society?

Actually, that's an interesting question...because Christians label themselves by the most beautiful name in the universe. And yet, our society generally views us in a very negative light. Why? Well, even when Jesus was on earth, He said that the world would hate His followers because it hates Him. But honestly, I feel like sometimes our behavior is responsible for that even so. In a previous post, Walking the Talk, I talked a lot about this, but today I have a little more to say.

I was reading Titus 2 today and came across this: "Slaves must always obey their masters and do their best to please them. They must not talk back or steal, but must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way." (Titus 2:9-10)

God wants to attract people to Him. And He wants to do that through us. But are we doing a very good job? If we're bickering and bashing all the time...how is that attractive?

I think too many Christians in our American society today have gotten so wrapped up in the "rules" and in "right and wrong" that they've forgotten what the name they wear actually stands for. Yes, in the Word, Jesus talks a lot about sin, but He also talks a lot about love. I think John 3:17 says it well, "God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him." If Jesus didn't even come to judge the world, why are we so intent on doing that? Our mission is to go out into the world and tell people about God's love, not to tell people that they're wrong.

I absolutely believe in right and wrong, and I believe that the Bible clearly outlines it. I am no advocate of watering down Scripture to make it more attractive. I believe that we should speak the truth, but that we should speak it at the appropriate time, and above all, in love. That's the point. After all, what did Jesus say the second greatest commandment was? To judge your neighbor as yourself? Nope. To love.

Please don't get me wrong, I know a lot of Christians who are really good at loving people. Not all Christians are judgmental and hateful; I know lots of wonderful Christ-followers. However, I believe that we can all do a better job of loving, and maybe if we did a better job, that would counter the judgment that comes from certain other Christians. I'll be honest: I know for me, personally, that I'm good at ignoring people I don't want to love. I'm not mean to them, but I don't love them like I should. She swears a lot and talks about all the bad stuff she does on the weekends? Nope, I'm staying away from that, not talking to her!...Really, Katie? Did Jesus ever ignore anyone because He disagreed with them? I don't think so. Whether we straight-out bash non-believers, or we just stay away from them while judging silently, the point is, we aren't loving them. And that's our mission.

I think the world has had enough judgment from us, but not enough love. Can we challenge ourselves to love the people that we disagree with? I don't mean your fellow believer who you get into theological debates with. I mean the people you really disagree with. Like the homosexual person you work with. Or the atheist you go to class with. Can we try to really love them like Jesus does? Can we, instead of getting into moral debates, or disregarding them, just be a friend to them and show ourselves to be "trustworthy and good?" Because that's how we love like Jesus loves. That's how we show the Gospel to be attractive. That's how we walk the talk.

Walking the Talk

A couple days ago, I stumbled upon this on the Internet:

Usually I would be angered or offended by this, but this time, I agreed with it, and thought what a sad truth it spoke of. Now, there are some sound arguments that could be made against the mindset of this comic, but I think what it's trying to communicate is, sadly, what the world sees in a lot of Christians.

As illustrated in the picture, very often, the first thing that comes to peoples' minds when they think of Christianity is judgment. Hypocrisy. Hate.

Uh, wait, you mean like Christians who are supposed to be ambassadors of Christ?

How did we get like this? Don't we affectionately call our Bible God's "love letter" to us? Isn't the God we serve not just the God of love, but love itself? Doesn't our favorite verse, John 3:16, talk about how God so LOVED the world? The very same world who we judge, and who sees us as judgmental and hateful?

How have Christians come so far from showing love and living out the love of Christ..to doing the very opposite? For being known for hate? And judgment?

Now, I know the world will always have arguments against Christians. When we're not being judgmental, we're using God as a crutch, or we're just ignorant and foolish for believing what we do. Etc. However, I think the judgmental-ness of Christians is not totally unwarranted. There IS a lot of bad stuff in the world, and a whole lot of sin, and quite frankly, it is disgusting. But isn't one of our mottos, "Hate the sin, not the sinner"?

Truthfully, most of the Christians I know are really nice people. And there are lots of other Christians I don't know who are also really nice people. But I think in general, as a church and the body of Christ, we need to do a bit less judging and a bit more loving. Actually, a LOT more loving.

I think 1 Corinthians 4:20-21 sums it up beautifully: "For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God's power. Which do you choose? Should I come with a rod to punish you, or should I come with love and a gentle spirit?" What if all the Christians chose this as their life verse, and really lived it, especially in their interactions with non-Christians? What would happen? There will always be cynics in the world who will always find some argument against us. But I think overall, there would be much less hypocrisy and much less judgment going on.

I don't want to be just the exception, but if that's how it has to begin, so be it. Lord, start with me. Let me be the Christian that loves, and doesn't judge. Spirit, work through me and in me to love and become more like Jesus!

YOLO [You Only Love Once]

I realize that the title of this post is sort of ambiguous, so let me get right into it and explain what I mean.

YOLO. Definitely on the top ten trends of 2012. It usually stands for You Only Live Once, which has been disputed and talked about by Christians others who think that it's just an excuse to do stupid things. That isn't the point of this post though..I've actually used the YOLO "reasoning" in my decision-making in the past few months and found it useful. (Should I have that brownie?..YOLO! ...On the other hand, maybe I should stop..) Though yes, people can use the term to make unwise decisions, I think the concept behind it is actually sound, and (bing!) Biblical.

To me (and maybe I'm digging too much into this, but bear with me), the philosophy behind YOLO - doing things you normally wouldn't do because you only have one chance to do them - speaks of boldness, courage, and taking advantage of the time you have. I think that's absolutely where Christians should live. Too, too often, people (Christians and non-Christians alike) fail to see the big picture of their lives, and get hung up on the small things. We have to realize that our lives are very short, often shorter than we know, and we do need to take advantage of every minute we have.

This can mean different things to different people. Sometimes getting "hung up on the small things" means getting irritated with them and forgetting to be thankful. It could mean not seeing the good in people maybe as much as you should. For others, it could mean generally living in a place of timidity. That's the one for me. Looking back on my life, I'm just now realizing how timid I've always been, and how afraid (usually unconsciously) I am of stepping out. If you know me personally, you may be surprised, but I'm really not very good when it comes to being bold and taking chances.

And I say, enough. I'm tired of being timid and being afraid. As a Christian, I may not only live once, but I do live with the people I do in the circumstances I'm in once. And the truth is, I may only be able to love the people I'm around once. Does that make sense?

Now, I'm not planning on living with reckless courage from now on - being bold and courageous is not an excuse to be unwise. I think, though, that sometimes our "wisdom" gets in the way of us loving others, and in being who we truly are. To give an example, I just started a Spanish class at the college, and in the first few minutes of the class, the teacher wanted all the students to introduce ourselves and say what we're interested in, what our hobbies are, etc. We could say anything. I could have used that opportunity to say that I love Jesus - that I love worship, that I love reading my Bible; I had the floor all to myself for those few seconds. But my fear got the better of me, and instead I said something about how I like photography or something. Now, to be clear, I'm not saying that every chance we get, we should throw Jesus into the discussion or tell people how much we love to read our Bibles. I'm not saying we have to shove Christianity down everyone's throats. But in little instances like that...what did I have to be afraid of? The people in my class weren't going to pull pitchforks out of their book bags and chase me out of the classroom. My teacher wouldn't have expelled me. It would have been fine, and maybe it would have sparked a conversation about God later on.

I fully believe that God is in control, and He will work through me however He wants to. However, I also believe that in order for us to be fully used by God, we can't be standing in the back of the room, cowering. In order for us to be used by God, we have to be at the front, waiting, confident, and ready for battle.

Those who believe in God and serve Him have the Holy Spirit in them - the Spirit of the Living God. The God of all courage, of all strength. He is not the God of timidity. I personally am praying for God to give me courage - for the little things and the big things. Holy Spirit, let me be a vessel for you to flow through with your strength and boldness.

I'm only going to live here once, and I may only have one chance to love the people around me. I don't have time to be timid or afraid. Lord willing, I'm going to take God's advice in Joshua when he says, "be bold and courageous."

How about you?

Guilt, Performance, and Righteousness

I struggle with feelings of guilt on a regular basis.

Maybe you do too, or maybe it's just me. Usually I lean toward the latter - I'm the only one who struggles with guilt, and that makes me...a bad Christian. (dun dun dun!)

You know what? What in the world does a "bad Christian" even look like? What kind of idiocy were we into when we coined that phrase? The term "bad Christian" is an oxymoron..and here begins my post.

The first thing I want to say to myself, and you, but mostly myself, is that there is no such thing as a bad Christian or a good Christian. I guess usually what people mean when they say bad or good Christian is what that Christian does with their life or how committed they seem to God - the "bad" Christian might not seem to get into worship at church, or maybe he only prays to God on Sundays. The "good" Christian goes to Bible study every week, prays everyday, and posts Scriptures on his Facebook. Maybe you don't categorize people like this, but I've caught myself doing it, and I'm just now realizing the flawed mindset behind it.

Maybe I'm just rambling here, but I think that we categorize Christians as good or bad, or maybe even whether they're "on fire" or not (did that hit close to home?) based on their performance. Let me ask you something. Does God love you based on your performance?

Hint: the answer to that question is a big fat NO. The Bible tells us that God's love is unfailing and unconditional, and Paul makes it very clear that nothing can separate us from God's love. Not bad performance. Not sin. Nothing.

So then why do we feel guilty?

Let me speak loud and clear by saying that we were made right with God through Christ - once and for all. If we start to think that we can be made right with God by doing good things, or that He'll love us more if we do more good, we are in tremendous danger of settling into a "works" mentality, instead of the faith mentality..and that's going back to the ol' "following-the-Law" mentality.

Just to be clear, I think there is something to be said for following the Spirit, and not the flesh, and spreading the Gospel, etc. But us doing those things or not doing those things does not affect God's love for us, and it does not affect whether we're saved by Christ or not.

I'm no New Testament scholar, but it seems to me that the Bible talks a whole lot more about the power of Christ's sacrifice, and the righteousness that comes from His sacrifice, than what we as Christians have to do to get God to love us. We have got to stop letting the enemy and our flesh work together and tell us that we are guilty and condemned, because our flesh is dead wrong when it tells us that, and the enemy has no right to speak that lie into us. I love how Paul puts it in Romans 8.. "If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one - for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who will then condemn us? No one."

No one. No. One. If God Himself decided that, through the blood of Christ, we are good enough for Him (sins and all), then who are we to tell ourselves, and who is the devil to tell us, that we are not good enough for God? That we're too sinful? That we ought to be feel guilty?

I know I'm rambling, so I'll wrap it up. Here's the bottom line: God's love is not performance-based. He expects you to sin. One thing I love about God is that He sees things how they are. He knows I'm going to sin. I'm sinful. He knows that and He loves me in spite of that. I don't have to feel one ounce of guilt, because God chose me, warts and all, and He said, "I love her. Through my Son's sacrifice, she is good enough."

He loves you. Through His Son's sacrifice, you are good enough.

rant.

Okay, I gotta get this off my chest...

Why do people have to swear? I know that sounds naive, and I really do understand why. Sometimes the pain that comes from dropping something really heavy on your toe doesn't seem to be covered by a simple "ouch". But I think Christians, and people of influence, and especially people with influence who call themselves Christians need to be careful.

I admit, this is kind of directed to something I saw on Twitter: someone who claimed to be a Christian and who I thought was really cool randomly dropped an f-bomb. Um, what? Really? ...I guess what irks me so much is that blurting something out in the heat of the moment is one thing, but intentionally typing something out is quite another.

I know that swearing does not take away your "Christian card", and it doesn't make God love you any less, but it still bothers me. Maybe because when I see that, I think of this verse: "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do." (1 Peter 1:15) We all sin, and none of us can be completely holy. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, that we should just keep sinning because God loves us anyway. ("Why stop sinning, when he keeps forgiving?" If you haven't seen that video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOGlSQlMUSA)

Forgive me for ranting, but I think that our words are something we can control, to some extent. Especially our typed words, for goodness' sake. If you speak the same words and use the same vulgar language as the rest of the world, what is going to make you as a Christian any different from the non-believers around you?

Seriously. This doesn't just apply to our words, but all our actions: The church needs to WAKE UP and realize that we are not of the world!! So why do we keep trying? We serve a holy, spotless God: why would we want to imitate the trash of the world??

Argh. Lord, please wake us up.