Just to for-warn you.
Driving to pick up my little sister from school today, I was in the right lane, jamming to JoyFM. As it came time for me to merge over I flipped on my turn signal (because I vow to never, ever become one of THOSE people..) and tried to accelerate so I wouldn't cut off the couple driving next to me. This came about the time when the car which I had so graciously used the signal for decided to try out for a role in The Fast and the Furious. Glaring over at them, I could almost guarantee the person was smiling.
Jerk.
Except I didn't say "jerk."
Since I like to keep my blog G-rated, I will let your imagination decide what words were replaced instead.
I kid you not, the second the nouns were out of my mouth, the radio blares the chorus to:
"Speak life! Speak LIIIIIFE!!!"
Oh. Good one God.
It was such an obvious, "Alonnah, don't do that!" that not only did I immediately start praying an apology to God, but I had to admit how clever and timely the whole thing was. So when Alyssah got in the car, I told her the story. Finishing it off with, "Moral of the story: your sister's an idiot."
Alyssah: "Yeah. You pretty much are."
Thinking about the irony of the song, I responded, "Yeah. But God isn't."
This is something I've been thinking about for a while now, at least the past month. Probably from some conversations I've had with others about coming to Christ, where they have actually told me they've done too many bad things to be a Christian.
This thought seemed so crazy to me. Like, really crazy. You aren't a Christian because you meet some kind of quota, some line where you pass over from being a "sinner" to a "saint".
But as I've been listening to people, I think that's how some non-Christians see those that follow Christ. They see them as the ones that just don't mess up.
And is that entirely their fault?
Because in all honesty, we Christians like to hold up a pretty fancy mask. We try so hard to do what the Bible says that, if we fall short of it, we kind of kick the sin under our bed and pretend it didn't happen.
I'm super guilty of this.
It's so much more fun to pretend that we've got it together. It's so much safer, and easier. I feel like a hypocrite writing this post, because I know I am the first to try to act like this.
But see that's not what people can relate to. While having the Holy Spirit helping you overcome temptations and struggles is part of following God, there's a really, really important part we don't talk about as much.
Salvation.
How timely.
The entire Christmas thing we do, where we celebrate Jesus coming to Earth to save us all from Satan's power, plays into the sins we hide.
See the reason Jesus came was to die as a sacrifice, to close the gap that sin created between us and God. The Lion, Witch, and The Wardrobe? C.S. Lewis's allegory concerning that.
And I know to Christians this seems like really basic stuff. That's the stuff we learned at the beginning of our relationship with God. But there's something I've been missing for a long time.
I'm not perfect. Christians and non-Christians- we have this so in common it's crazy. Even if you are doing really well with the not murdering thing, chances are you slip up somewhere else.
Because to God, sin is equal.I mulled this over the last few weeks. And the more I began concentrating on my sin, the more disheartened I became. But then, God kind of snapped his fingers in front of my eyes.
Reality check. That's why He sent Jesus to die for me. Because I couldn't do it.
If we think being a Christian is all about never messing up and being the perfect person, we are really missing it. It's not about being perfect, it's about loving God and having a passionate relationship with Him.
I was watching a video a week or two ago, and the guy on it was saying something along the lines of, "Our sin doesn't shock God. He's not up there being like 'Oh no, they sinned! What ever am I going to do now!'"
I'm not saying be happy you sinned like "Oh yeah! Gave Jesus something to die for!" Absolutely not. But I am saying, I need to conger up enough humility to admit to the things I've also done wrong.
I was at church a few weeks ago*, helping load up boxes for OCC and had just met a few ladies who were also helping out. These ladies were some of the sweetest, kindest, most godly women I think I'd ever met. Picture Jesus as a grandma, and you'll get the idea. They loved God so much, they truly had looking like Him down to the tee. Turning to one of the women I told her, "You are all perfect!" She laughed in a sweet way and said, "Oh no sweetie. Jesus just makes us look that way."
I nodded and smiled, and continued to shove shoe boxes next to each other, but inside my brain had gone on pause. All I could think was- Wow, that was a really good answer.
Being a Christian IS following Christ. By definition that is what it is- Christ-follower. So it makes sense that when you are doing that, you aren't falling into sin as frequently. Out of your love and thankfulness to God you don't find it as desirable. But when people notice that, or make comments about how we aren't following the rest of the world, it is imperative that we don't just smile and nod and say "thanks". (Pretty much what I've done. My whole life.)
Maybe a thanks is good. But add, "It's just Jesus that makes me look that way."
Because, another quote from that movie a few weeks ago, "If they can't see that Christ is in you (or has affected you)...they don't want (Him)!"
I am actually pretty sure I've already quoted him with this before, but I'll do it again. As Chris Douglas says, "Make sure people know they don't have to get "cleaned up" to come to Christ. But, also make sure they know Christ will want to clean them up."
Best way to sum this up? My new favorite Bible verse(s):
For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift- not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation- created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.
_Eph2:8-10.
Live without pretense. Love. Drink more water. Get real.
*was it just me or did the phrase "a few weeks ago" come up a lot during this post? Must've been a busy few weeks...
