Christians judge me.

I was talking with a friend the other day who has made a lifestyle choice that is not consistent with Christian teaching (sorry to be a little vague here but I’m hiding the identity of the person concerned).

I was talking to them about church and wondering if they were going anyway at present. Their response was that they weren’t because they just couldn’t go through all that comment and judgement that church people do.

Now I might have defended the church at this point  – perhaps pointing out that the lifestyle they have chosen is in fact not what Jesus taught – but I think she was right.

I know that the bible teaches that this person has made a wrong choice. She knows this too. But she has made the choice to live as she does and she must be free to make that choice.

The problem now is that she feels excluded from the church – the very place she should be able to go to to help her make the right choices.

How does the church usually help people make choices? At best they will be patronising and whisper behind her back and at worst they will publically humiliate her.

What did Jesus do with sinners? Did he hold them up for public scorn? Did he whisper about them behind their back? Did he say “get away from me you are unclean!”? Of course not – he went and had a meal with them and called them his friends.

If the church was only for perfect people it would be empty and yet too often those who go see it as an exclusive club where some sins are ok (we just don’t mention those) and some sins are not allowed in here.

I’m not advocating a free for all where sin doesn’t matter – in truth I’m am very keen on personal holiness – but how do we get holy if the place we can meet with God and fellowship with others is barred to us because of a wrong choice we have made.

Sorry – I’m starting to rant.

Let’s get more serious about rejecting the sin but loving the sinner (with the emphasis on loving the sinner e.g. me – and you).

Perhaps if we put all the energy we expend on telling everyone how bad they are into telling people how much God loves them we might have full churches and I would be out of a ministry (good thing by they way).

Stuff Christians should be doing

In 1 Timothy 6:11 Paul tells Timothy some of the stuff he should be doing as a Christian leader. Much of what he says applies to any Christian who wants to live as godly a life as they can.

In my last post I talked about the stuff to flee. I pointed out that to flee means to actively avoid them not just passively avoid them.

Now we are looking at stuff Christians should ‘persue’ e.g. actively seek not passively seek.

What I mean by actively seek is that we should put effort in to get these things and not just hope that somehow if we sit near God long enough they will just rub off.

Righteousness – that is going things God’s way even if it is not our way. Simply put doing the right things.

Godliness – that is filling ourselves with God. Not so we distance ourselves from the world. Remember the most Godly man? Jesus. Yet Jesus hung around with sinners and social outcasts (do you know any?). Being Godly means being like Jesus.

Faith – Yes faith requires work. Faith is not some mystical force that falls on you if you pray the right words is a choice and requires a degree of willpower. Now I’m personally in favour of an intelligent faith rather than a blind one but both need to be worked at.

Love – Not a gooey feeling you get when you look at a pretty woman/handsome man but real deep tough but soft all powerful love. It needs to be worked on. It requires effort.

Endurance – I think this is one that someone who is without a church needs to really work on. You will find support in a church if your faith is struggling (or at least in some churches) but if you are on your own you will need to work hard at enduring. I would recommend at least finding some good Christian web sites you can look too when you need a little boost. Find them before the struggle comes along because there is an awful lot of rubbish out there. Try Christian music as well it can really help.

Gentleness – This doesn’t mean putting on a sick smile and patting children on the head. It’s about caring and helping and leading. It’s about showing a better way. It’s like firmly helping your children to be better rather than just shouting at them when they are wrong. It’s powerful and it’s tough. The world doesn’t understand the power of this quality.

So let’s be active in our faith and not passive.