I am not saying I am perfect by any means. I am so full of faults I often become overwhelmed with how it doesn't make sense that God would even want to save me. I will admit, I struggle. I get bogged down with my earthly responsibilities and the first thing that gets pushed aside are spiritual. I will go a day without praying..and not even realize it. I rarely study my Bible for anything other than school... I get lost in "stuff" and "things" and the thing that is the absolute most important falls through the cracks. I am a human, and I am a sinner. And I try to do better, but I often fail. I am often afraid to admit my faults because of how I know those who come off as "good Christians" will turn up their nose rather than open their arms. ]
My darling friend, Abby, got herself all worked up about this and I believe it deserves to be said in public, to be shared, to be shouted from the rooftops, because this topic is far too important to be ignored.
We are sinners.
We get wrapped up in our bubble and start to shut ourselves off from this world. I think we forget what sinners we are. We see a man who has been in prison and think "We must be better, we haven't committed that sin."
And yet.. we sin just the same. The difference is we have been redeemed. We have chosen to follow the way of God and work everyday at growing in our spiritual life. We want to be closer to God and farther from sin. Because of our desire to escape the world, we leave behind all of the lost souls within it. We choose not to speak to that woman...she is open about her loose sex life and dresses immodestly. She curses. She smokes. I want to stay away from her.
Is this not a sin itself? How easy is it for us to forget what our job is! Our sins are just as bad as that woman's...and if we completely isolate ourselves, ignore her, how will she ever hear about Jesus? If we turn up our noses and look the other way instead of smiling and offering her a kind word. Which of these would be an example of Jesus Christ? We are so afraid of being of the world, we try to get out of it all together. If you do not see your sin and do not realize that you are equal to this woman, you remain unwilling to speak to her, you are ineffective. We have to be able to talk to anyone about their sins, and yet it seems like we can't even admit our own sin to our brethren.
Our goal is to truly let our light shine and show people the love of Christ.
Our isolation makes us fail at our duty if we are not careful. Sex is an issue in this world, you might have to talk about it *gasp!* to someone to help them through their sin... Drugs. Alcohol.Theft. People do it and if we cannot address it, those people may be lost. We cannot wait for someone else to come around and do it for us...
If you have to experience a few moments of discomfort to save a soul, isn't it worth it?
And what about our attitude toward our brothers and sisters?
Here at FC, it is obvious there are cliques and various groups of people. And it is obvious that some people would not be caught dead talking to a person of a different group by free will. It's then that I stop and think, "What kind of family is this?" We are supposed to be willing to DIE for our brother and yet we cannot sit next to him because he isn't like us? Isn't well dressed enough? Isn't good enough?
Then what have we become...
What good are we doing?
We've fallen deeper into our own selfish sin and we are doing nothing. This world, this life, becomes our idol and we forget that we are supposed to do something, not for ourselves, but for Christ!
We have to change. There is no other option. When it becomes a fear of judgement for us to confess our sins to one another, there is a problem. We put up a facade of being perfect Christians, when in reality we are not living at all like Christ.
Jesus spent his time with the sinners...the people who needed him. He rebuked. He loved, oh how he loved, everyone...all of us.
We have to change before we are all lost. Talk the talk. Walk the walk... Reach out to anyone in need. Who knows...maybe your smile and kind attitude will change that person's outlook. Maybe he'll take you up on your invitation to church. And maybe if we all act how we are commanded, he will walk into a building full of true Christians who admit their fault as much as their desire to do better. A group of people who love so deeply it is nearly unfathomable. And maybe he'll see the good in this world, which is its savior, Jesus Christ.
But until then, we are simply wearing masks to fool ourselves and cast judgement on others.
We have to change.
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