unforgiving, selfish, exclusive, toxic, condemning, condescending
i've had quite a few conversations over the last several months about the church and the people that the church is made of....you may know that term as 'christians'....the terms at the top of this post "unforgiving, selfish, exclusive, etc." are all words that people used to describe 'christians' in our conversations. the people in my convos ranged from long time followers of Christ to... new followers of Christ to.... people that were once followers of Christ and were burned by the church to.... finally, people that do not follow Christ and have no desire to....
what are 'we' (and by we i mean 'christians') doing?
being a 'christian' is not being a member of a club...you don't pay dues so that you get to come to fancy meetings in your fancy halls and sit back and talk about how cool you are because you are in the club....to be a 'christian' is to follow Christ.....follow - that is an ACTION! following Christ isn't about being good or safe or protected in your walls....it's about being! getting out of your comfort zone and getting your hands and feet dirty while caring for others and meeting people's holistic needs...
we have turned the word 'christians' into something ugly...and that's completely our fault...take a look at that list of words that was used to describe 'christians' again:
...unforgiving, selfish, exclusive, toxic, condemning, condescending,....what happened to love? what happened to giving of yourself and your resources and all that you are to those in need? if you think about it, everything you are and everything you have was given to you by God....so technically it's his anyway right? who are you to hold onto something that was given so freely to you?
when someone is hungry....feed them. when someone is thirsty.....give them something to drink. when someone is in need....MEET. THE. NEED. if you can't meet the full need, do something in the direction of meeting that need. just love!!!
we've got to change the people's perception of 'christians' and Christ....let's not talk about "doing good" and "being the church" - let's actually DO IT.... there are so many organizations that are providing ways for you to reach others. if you don't want to give through an organization then look into your community because there are needs every. single. day. that aren't being met and those people are hurting. show God to those people by loving them. and don't expect anything in return....just love them.....because they were created in the same image that you and I were...God's...
let that sink in a minute...
Great thoughts! So so true. Can I add something to this? What about how Christians treat each other? Just because I'm a Christian doesn't mean I have to agree with everything you think I should or shouldn't do. I'm not you and God may speak to me differently. I may screw up and if I do God will forgive me. Why can't we forgive each other? Why can't we get over these man made rules and see what good we could do together? It comes down to loving God & loving people. End of story. I better stop now before I write a book.
ReplyDeleteHere's a thought that comes to mind from reading Francis Chan's Crazy Love. He talks about Jesus' words in Revelation where he says that He will spit lukewarm Christians out of his mouth. He concludes that there can be no such thing as a lukewarm Christian. Have you read it? Here's a link to some videos about the book. Check out Chapter 4 and 5. It aligns with your thinking but takes it a step further. http://crazylovebook.com/videos.html. The book is quite convicting for me.
ReplyDeleteyeah Jay i've read that book and i love it. i went back and looked at those chapters again. "is there room for someone who calls themselves a christian but isn't really a follower" - that's my fav line out of those videos...that book is very convicting for me too man.
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