You say you're open and honest. You're happy being the person you are and if anyone doesn't like it...deal with it. Sure, you mess up but when you do, you boast it nice and loud so everyone knows just how humble you are. After all, you'll readily admit your mistakes unlike cyborg-ish individuals such as myself. You're confident in who you are and in the fact that God loves you as you are.
Where in the Bible does it say being open about who you are is a substitute for being righteous? Please point me to the clause that gives Christians the excuse to slip into worldliness? Can I get blunt for a second?
God doesn't only call you to be honest, He demands you to be holy.
Speaking of honesty, if I were honest with myself, that single word strikes more fear into my being than just about anything else. That "Be ye holy; for I am holy" verse? It is not optional, it is a necessity. The verse before that penned by the apostle Peter says that Christians are to be holy in "all manner of conversation." I am certain that the words "friggin" and "that sucks" do not glorify the God who gave you the ability to speak.
Now please don't think I'm being Pharisaical. I know the Lord loved and still loves the sinners and the outcasts of this world. They are the reason He came in the first place. However, the beauty of our great Saviour is that He loves sinners too much to leave them that way. He reaches out to the sinner with tender mercy and draws them out of a horrible pit to set their feet upon a rock. He puts a new song in the mouth of a newborn saint and gives them the victory to overcome the clutches of the old man. Why are you still looking and sounding like an old man when He has given you the power to be new? Why do you so desperately seek to be approved by a world who scorned Him? We are not called to relate to worldliness but we are called to relay the message of eternity. The words we speak should not be words of compromise but should be sparking conversion through Christ-like conversation. We are to walk as He walked through the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
I am not perfect. I battle my own flesh every single day. Sometimes I catch myself falling more and more into who I used to be and I hate that. Perhaps my frustration stems from the fact that I am trying to desperately to become more like Christ and everywhere I turn Christians are content to reflect the World.
I'm not funny. I'm not witty. I don't have exceptional class or the superior ability to fit in. More and more I'm coming to realize, though, that none of that matters in light of eternity. Lord Jesus, take me as I am now and change me into someone more like You.
P.S. - I really am not trying to offend or seem overly harsh. It is not in any way shape or form my intention to say that we should forget about loving people or not forgiving them their faults. I'm just as guilty of this mindset as the next person and would never want to portray a "holier than thou" attitude. I am not ranting at anyone in particular but rather, expressing my sadness over a mindset that starts into Christian's being apathetic and lukewarm. S'all. :]
"Character in a saint means the disposition
of Jesus Christ persistently manifested." –Chambers
There is definitely a place for honesty and openness with other Christians, though. I get what you are trying to say, but I guess I come from the perspective of someone who has felt like I had to keep up an "image" of a good girl, when I wasn't, because people in my circles just didn't want to see that I was struggling with sin. I wasn't proud of my sin, and I wasn't walking around flaunting it when I was with Christians (around non-Christians was a little bit different story), but I wanted more than anything to have a stronger Christian come alongside me and to see where I was at right at that time and help me. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that Christians in general lack transparency trying to look like we are doing the best we can. The thing is, we might be doing the best we can, but our best isn't good enough. After we are saved we have to rely on the Holy Spirit, but also on other Christians. James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Jesus never ever pushed a sinner's sin under a rug or hushed the sinner. He saw it for what it was and He forgave it in that moment.
ReplyDeleteI think in general what I'm referring to isn't exactly what you were talking about, but I had to add my two sense :).
Thanks so much for commenting! You're absolutely right. Sin isn't something to be covered up in order to preserve an image and Christians must be willing to be honest and transparent! Like you said, without honesty, there is little room for help or encouragement. I pray you found the strong Christian you need then. We as Christians often fail to see the need of others, myself included. :( But the Lord is SO gracious and He knows where the motivation of the heart is! The point I was struggling to get across is that so often people choose to justify sin rather than fix it. :) Often, it is easier to label sin as personality and forget that God has called each child of His to be something so much more. Something He alone can make us through HIS power because none of us can achieve it in and of ourselves. If we allow Him, He takes our sinful selves and makes us into the image of Jesus Christ. Thanks so much for your input!
ReplyDeleteI have a thought: what if while a child the person tried to reach his or her parents with Love and receive Love. Yet they were damaged so they being made in the image of God with emotions and natural desires to be accepted reached out in different ways to find a place of acceptance and Love throught this imaginary life because of the real pain of not receiving Love from his/her parents normally but frowardly instead. Gal 6:1 comes to mind about reaching out and helping them throught their pain to help them get rewired for proper love so they can give and receive it again. Their damaged heart is in pain and is crying out for help but because of position, money, location is a hindrance feels trapped: Jesus said this kind cometh only by fasting and prayer.. Are you praying for them? Are you fasting for them? Do you choose to Love them inspite of their sin? Jesus did... I realize it is much hard said than done.. Please forgive me for my sentence structure as it is only a phone. Just a thought on you journey.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts! You're right, the brother or sister in sin should always be a topic of prayer! Loving a person because of their sin, especially if they are seeking or in need of guidance and counsel is Biblical! Jesus did love the sinner but on the other hand, he rebuked those who claimed to be "religious" because He loved them as well. The frustration I'm struggling with is supposed mature Christians who look, sound like, and embrace the world and the world's philosophies yet still claim to have communion with God. To see Christians give God the "credit" for their sin is heartbreaking to me and it's not what God has called His followers to do or be.
ReplyDelete"If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." - John 1:6