Well this is my first blog, so bear with me as I try to put my random thoughts onto paper. (well actually I am putting them on to the computer…but you get what I’m saying)
So I was talking to this man a few days ago about miracles. I was sharing with him about my friend who just had identical twin girls. The doctor and everyone else expected the babies to be around 3 lbs. and probably be sick…but they were born weighing 4.4 and 4.5 lbs! They are beautiful and healthy! I told him how I was so grateful that God hears our prayers. He began to tell me that he really didn’t consider himself a Christian because he didn’t attend church every Sunday.
For some reason that really bothered me all night. It bothered me that somebody somewhere told him that he couldn’t consider himself a Christian because he didn’t go to church every Sunday. Now I know the importance of the church- the accountability, the fellowship, the worship, and getting fed…. but that doesn’t make someone a Christian. And because he thought he couldn’t “measure up” he chose to turn away. My pastor said something tonight that really stuck with me. He said that it was sad that people considered a building the church. When really we are the church.
For a long time I felt like I had to fit into this mold. I had to be perfect, look perfect, and dress perfect. If I did all those things then it would make me a better Christian. It took me a long time, 3 years to be exact, to really understand who I was in Christ. I knew I was a new creation, but what I didn’t understand was that I didn’t have to look like everyone else. God made me how I am for a reason. I am strong willed, but that got me where I am today- without it I would have given up a long time ago. I really struggled with being “perfect”. Telling myself that if I learned all this scripture then I would be considered good to God…like I had to win His love. I think we sometimes get so caught up in the piety of it all that we forget what it’s really all about. We aren’t perfect- never have been and never will be.
Theres a song by Flame that is an apology to people who have been hurt by religion. An apology to the people who have been told they aren’t good enough for God, and in turn they walked away from the only thing that can make them truly whole -> God. I want to love the unloved and those who have been hurt. I want to tell them of a Savior who doesn’t judge us by our past, but He washes us clean and picks us up right where we are. You don’t have to clean yourself up to gain God’s love- he loves us dirty. Just like a Mom who’s kid has been playing in the mud all day. When he runs to her she scoops him up in her arms, not caring if her clothes get a little messed up, and carries him inside.
Love is Change.
Ash
