okay, so many of you know over the past few years i've been through some things. and stuff. some of it happened to me, some of it i made happen with selfish choices. that's not what i'm blogging about though. i'm here to share a thought process that has really had me tied up awhile.
a few months ago, a close friend (who is not a christian but has a church backround) told me that she struggled during my darker days with me openly claiming to be a Christian- assumedly because of some of the ways i was living my life- this really took me aback, because though internally i was a mess, publically i was still living a "pretty clean" life- one that i certainly didn't expect a non christian to be offended by. Furthermore, my faith never ceased to be very important to me- EVER- even at my worst, most sinful and selfish times. i was not walking the way i talked consistently, and i was definitely living more to please myself than to please God, but my faith and belief in Jesus was never for a moment voided.
So i started thinking. the break here was between my friend's definition of what it means to call oneself a Christian and mine.
i'm not prepared enough to quote chapter and verse on the biblical definition of a Christian right now and i don't think that's the spirit of this internal discussion. i know i'm a Christian based on that- but what the world sees and what makes me live for Christ is more than that "dictionary definition.
What a lot of the churched and unchurched world defines christianity by is a long list of rules. of do's and don'ts, and "things we don't do" in the name of following Jesus. that is SO not what it's about. i'm not gonna get into a discussion of legalism here because that is its own blog post, but let me say this. Jesus cares so much more about what's in our hearts than the motions we go through to prove we are His.
In my heart, the definition of being a Christian is this: I believe Jesus is the Son of God. i believe he died and rose again for my sins. i am so thankful for this sacrifice that i seek with my life to honor Him, glorify Him, and love like He loves. does it mean i am successful at this all the time? NO. does it mean i don't fall and fall HARD into doing things my own way at times? NO! what it means is that i am a wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked sinner who has been saved by grace and daily must die to self to live for Christ. no matter how selfish and sinful i am at times, that fact does not change. i would never claim to be better than anyone else- i'm not. i fall hard sometimes. Truth is, i'm held to a higher standard because as my mom would say, i've all the powers of heaven and earth at my disposal and i still sin. sigh.
an example of what i'm talking about is a recording i heard of an old drunk man singing "Jesus' blood never failed me yet" this guy is speaking the truth he knows in his heart and that he believes- but he's wasted. his drunkenness doesnt change what he believes or that he believes it- he;s jsut not being a consistent witness for Christ in this state- and i beleive that is really what my friend was talking about- i was hurting my witness through some of my actions.
The upside here- what can help my witness- and yours too if you're a Christ follower who sins like i do- is humility. i feel like the fact that God picks me up when i fall down and makes something beautiful out of my muck brings Him more glory and makes the gospel more accessible- being a christian doesnt mean you're perfect- it means you're loved anyway and can climb out of the messes you make.
this song has come to mean a lot to me and i think it describes the Christian walk beautifully:
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9 comments:
You put into words how I feel about my own experience as a follower of Christ. Thank you so much for sharing because I often feel that I am the only Christian that looks at things this way.
We all sin.
Proud Christians (the ones with the microphones) set themselves up to be hypocrites, to bring ridicule on the church, and ultimately cause more harm to the church than good.
Humble Christians know they are sinners, and live lives of example, rather than performance. They sin, they fail, they are carried by their faith, and they go on. Their stumbles, like their prayers, are quiet service to God. In this way, their failures don't become hypocrisy.
My grandfather was like that. And even though I'm not a part of the Christian church, I do look to his example, just in terms of how to live a gentle life.
A priest once told me (and used in his homilies and his WBAB radio show more then once) that humans are like pencils, we come with built in erasers. Why? Because we are expected to make mistakes, that's how we are built.
No one lives life without struggle, without temptation, even Jesus had these things. No one who has ever lived has been without sin, without falling to temptation and has not suffered from their struggles, I believe even Jesus fell (not just the whole stations of the cross thing*, but inside himself)Those stories aren't talked about much in the bible because who writes about someone's weakness when trying to promote a religion.
I believe that the story of the stations of the cross, how Jesus fell with the cross and was helped back up was a story meant to show us how we all fall in our lives and we all need help back up.
Being a christian is up to each person to define, for me it is believing in God, believing there is a higher purpose to this life and believing that we must follow the teachings of Jesus to run our personal lives.
Jesus's best friend was Mary M, she was not saint when he met her, he loved her just the same. Who are we to judge anyone?
There are many people who just go through the motions, they live the life expected of them, take part in their church and preach how others should live their lives, but to me, that does not a Christian make. It is holding Jesus in your heart and being faithful. Gandhi to me was faithful, and though he wasn't a christian I would think him more Christlike then the person going through the motions... but still, it is not for me to decide who is and who isn't. The only person I can classify as christian or not is myself.
PS: Great song
Well said Nobilis
The hardest part of being a good person, not necessarily a Christian or someone of any other faith, is consistency.
Without consistency all we are is words and mouth offerings to that which we 'say' we believe. Does this mean we must be perfect? No. But in some ways I see this in the ancient Egyptian way. Things on one side must out balance the other.
If I do more that is good and in line with what I say I believe, than it could be proven that I truly believe it. If however, I talk much and do little than there is nothing but talk and I am truly the opposite of what I claim.
This is a life lesson and a lesson of self examination and self-honesty. It is easy to say. It is hard to do.
Hee, I learned that song accidentally in Girl Scout camp. We visited some other types of camps as part of our leadership program, including a Christian one which sang that song. There was another one about Moses I really liked but I have no idea what it is now.
Anyway, to the point...I think most people have a code of conduct and an example to follow that they don't always match up to. I know I don't walk in my path of rightness all the time. I think there can be more learned from failing and recovering than never failing. Of course, I could just be trying to rationalize my own failures!
Nice post... ^_^
(just want to share this verse)
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Humility is the thing. And something we learn more and more about as we get older. There are days when you go, "ah, so THAT'S what humility's all about." And then you do it again :)
Failing makes us human and is to be forgiven and learned from. It is those that hold themselves up as virtuous and more learned than others yet don't admit to their failings but rather try to justify them by twisting their beliefs to allow the transgresson for themselves that are part of the problem. Their attempts to whitewash their particular sin in their particular instance is what damages the whole of a belief system. Especially true when they are looked up to by others.
You very nicely state that an individual's belief system is just that. THEIR system. It may be similar to many others but is still ultimately theirs alone to define for themselves alone.
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