Have you ever felt too ashamed to share a sin with those in church?
Have you ever felt too scared to share a hurt you have experienced with those in church?
Have you ever felt judged by those in the church because of the above or simply because of how you dressed?
Have you ever judged someone in the church for how they were dressed, or for having tattoos or piercings?
Have you ever had a “church scandal” and judged those involved?
In Galatians 1:10 Paul says:
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Why do we judge others in the church? Why are we afraid to show our true selves?
Why do we pretend to be perfect, when we know no one is perfect?
We do this because we are scared. We are scared of what others in the church will think of us. We are scared we will look bad in front of people who seem to have everything figured out. We think they will judge us for being bad Christians.
The reality is, if this is the standard we are trying to live up to, we are all terrible Christians!
Romans 3:20-24 says:
“For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law…. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins”
Do you really believe this?
If you said yes to any of the above questions, you are operating out of the law rather than out of grace.
There is no such thing as a good or bad Christian! You either are a Christian or you’re not. You either put your faith in Jesus or you don’t.
If everyone in your church is operating out of “being a good Christian”, are you really the Church (body of Christ), or are you just a group of people who meet once a week to engage in small talk and fulfill a good deed?
I challenge you to reflect on the questions above. Reflect on your way of thinking.
Be honest with God and ask him if you live out of faith in Jesus or out of trying to “be a good Christian”.
In my next blog I will continue this discussion and get into why we often think this way.
