Although this is my last month, it is one of the harder times on the race (in more ways than one). I do feel very blessed that God has brought me to Ukraine, but at the same time, my heart aches for the things taking place around me.
Disclaimer: This blog is not meant to cast judgment or point fingers. It is merely things I have experienced during my time here, and the things I’m learning through it. Please do not think this is supposed to be directed at one specific person, place, or country. I have had some awesome experiences and met some amazing people since being here, but this issue is one thing that has been on my heart as of late. It is the very issue that burns in my heart the most. I hate to see people stuck in bondage, when it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. I am writing this blog because I have tasted and I have seen, and I have found the Good News is in fact Good News, and my desire is that the scales of deception would fall from the eyes of every person that has not experienced the sweetness of the Kingdom.
This blog is specifically about the legalism that I have seen rooted in many hearts and minds.
Criteria for Christians:
Have tattoos or piercings?
You are not welcome in a lot of churches.
Alcoholic?
Sorry, you’re no longer allowed to enter many of the four walls.
Still living in sin?
You can come inside the church when you have turned from your rebellion, until then, you are not welcome.
I have been asked by many Ukrainians how I feel about alcohol, tattoos and piercings, dancing (in and out of the church), and many other topics. I was very honest towards how I feel about the issues at hand, and in response, was told that these things can qualify for a person to be kicked out of church.
I experienced some of the isolation that is taking place while my team was helping with a 4-day softball camp. Some drunk teenage boys began asking me if I wanted a cigarette or beer. I was able to speak truth to them because of my own past experiences, since I also relied on drugs and alcohol in order to “have a good time.” I saw myself in them when I was their age. Because I was very familiar with that lifestyle, I was able to tell them that I now have a pure joy that can only be found in the Kingdom, and that the things of this world are merely a cheap imitation of experiencing God’s Glory.
Later that night someone asked me why I had been hanging out with alcoholics.
My heart breaks that many people believe it is useless to try and speak with them. My heart breaks that many people push them aside and cast judgment for their actions. My heart breaks that many people believe that if a person goes near them, they will also become an alcoholic, as if it was some contagious disease.
Although the teenage boys didn’t pay much attention to what I was saying, I truly believe not one moment of that conversation was in vain. Even if they didn’t have ears to hear, I continue to pray that they will hear the truth in their hearts.
This situation made me wonder:
Why is it that the one thing Jesus commanded us to do is the one thing that is the hardest thing for us to do?
I admit that I myself have been guilty of placing judgment towards other people.
-Why is it so easy to forget that Christ didn’t come to judge the world, but to save it?
Isn’t that one thing we are commanded to do is love?
Love bears all things.
Love believes all things.
Love hopes all things.
Love endures all things.
I have personally come to believe that we get so caught up in the insignificant issues at hand, we lose sight of what’s truly important.
If there is anything I have learned about God this year, it is that He longs for my heart. He longs for your heart. When a person’s heart has been ravished by Him, there is no turning back to the ordinary things of this world because those things pale in comparison to the Glory.
A striving, man-pleasing heart will never set a person free. It is false to believe that a person has to do something in order to receive God’s love. Even before Jesus came down to earth, the Lord told the religious people He was sick of their worthless sacrifices and offerings.
Why?
Because the religious people did their “good” works to look nice and shiny on the outside, but their hearts were far from God.
Man may look at the outward appearance, but God has always looked towards the heart.
Why did God say He hated tattoos?
Because the people He was speaking to in that time did it as a form of worship in reverence to other gods!
Why did God say don’t drink alcohol?
He actually didn’t. He said don’t get drunk. I don’t believe He commanded this to place rules around us; He enforced this because getting drunk with alcohol can’t even compare to getting drunk in His Holy Spirit… and I can testify of this! The cheap man-made bottle does not even scratch the surface in comparison to the power of Heaven! I truly believe drinking alcohol comes back to a person’s motivations. I believe God’s heart breaks when His children drink in order to have fun or lose inhibition because a lack of self confidence, depression, and the list can go on.
The sin issue?
Well, anger and jealousy are just as much a sin as alcoholism and defilement. Is anger any less of a sin if a person does a really good job at hiding this emotion in public? Christ died to set every single person free, and He did this while we were still sinners. Jesus never pushed people away because of their sin, it was always the person who chose to walk away. What if a person was 5 minutes away from experiencing the Glory, but as he entered the church, was denied for being drunk? I wonder how many people have possibly turned from Christ because of denial into the building…
The pharisees knew the Law front and back, but their hearts were far from God.
Mary Magdalene, on the other hand, was a dirty prostitute, but in Jesus’ eyes she was counted as righteous because she loved Him with all her heart, all her mind, and all her soul. Because Jesus loved and accepted her, she was forever changed.
The truth is it was the religious people that hated Christ because He did hang out with the prostitutes, alcoholics, and tax collectors. Christ never rejected them, on the contrary, He embraced them.
So the lessons I’ve learned from this month:
- Forcing my opinions on people will only push them away.
- The way people see me is a reflection of how they see God.
- I am called to love
- because
- The love of God is always stronger.
- Everything always comes back to the motivation of one’s heart.
