I’ve written a lot about misconceptions of Christianity. People assume it’s about doing and not doing, following a set of rules, being good. Since we all fail at “being good” at some point or another, Christianity is viewed as, at best, fake or weak, and, at worst, a lie. My nephew would be quick to point out all the sexual abuses perpetrated by religious leaders. Once he brought up something he’d read about Ted Bundy becoming a Christian right before his execution. My nephew wanted no part in a belief that would allow someone as awful as Ted Bundy into its ranks.
You’ve probably heard all the complaints about Christian
hypocrisy dating back to the Crusades. Christians are every bit as messed up
and broken as everyone else. We may not be a sexual predator, or a serial
killer, but we all have our own struggles with being consistently what we think
of as “good”. We’ve spoken harsh, hurtful words. We’ve been green with envy. We
have bullied, laughed at, jumped on those who have done the same to us. We’ve
broken hearts. We’ve lied. We may even have hated. We have all done at least
one bad thing in our life, and I’ll wager we’ve done a lot more than one. And
we’ve done many of those things since becoming a Christian.
So yes, Christians do bad things, sometimes very bad things.
This is good news, we don’t have to be “good” to be a Christian.
We don’t even have to do or not do things to be a Christian. All we need to do
is accept God’s free gift of grace. There are no other hoops to jump through,
no tests to pass and no other work to be done.
Don’t get me wrong. God does hate all sin. Sin always bears
consequences and the biggest consequence is separation from God. Sin keeps us
from having a relationship with our Creator. Sin demands payment, a wage, and
the Bible tells us that wage is death, our death, physically but most
importantly, spiritually. Yet God desired a relationship with us, and through
Jesus’ dying in our place, we can have that relationship. He wanted that
relationship so much He paid the price of sin for us. When Jesus died, as crazy
as it sounds, He took on Himself the sin of the entire world, past, present and
future. God accepted His sacrifice. The resurrection of Jesus proves this
acceptance. And the issue of sin becomes moot. All sin was forgiven on the
cross – ALL. The issue isn’t what good things we do or don’t do, or even what
bad things we do or don’t do. The issue is what will you do with the gift God
has given you? Accept or reject, no
other work is demanded. God did all the work for us.
Once the gift is accepted, there should come some changes,
but not of our own accord. As we learn to give more and more of our lives to
God, His Spirit in us will help us live a better life. We can bear the fruit of
the Sprit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control.
Those are indeed good things. Will we still sin? Yes. We still have that nature
in us, so we can still sin – and in sinning do some pretty awful things. But
those awful things have already been forgiven.
Doesn’t that give us the license then to just go out and sin
more? If it’s all forgiven, who cares, free pass to heaven and all? A true believer would care a lot. We care
because we understand what that forgiveness cost, the amount of love given us
by God to free us from sin. That understanding compels us to do better. It also
helps us see we cannot do better on our own ability, we need to turn the
control of our life over to God to create in and through us what we cannot do
on our own. Sin is that powerful, left unchecked, even in a believer’s life,
horrible things can result. We need to hand over the keys to God, and let Him
control our life. It doesn’t happen all at once, but the more we allow God to
rule in our life, the less sin becomes an issue.
Regardless, sin, the broken bad stuff we do, is not what keeps us from being a Christian. And, if we could be “good”, being good doesn’t make us a Christian. What makes a Christian is acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice in our place. If we put our faith and trust in what Jesus did for us, we are a Christian. You might think, that’s too easy. But is it? First of all it requires admission that we need saving. That's not very easy. We think we haven't done anything that bad to require that kind of saving. Yet the Bible says we have all sinned and fall short of what God requires. Even the best of us need saving.
Then comes the issue of control. Most of us don’t want to give our lives to
anything or anyone else. We want to have total control. By accepting God’s gift
of forgiveness, we are at the same time admitting we can’t save ourselves, we
need a savior. All the control we think we have and want doesn’t really exist.
The Bible says we are “slaves” to sin. The only freedom comes when we let go of
trying to save and fix ourselves and accept the work God has already done through
Jesus.
When people say, “I think I’m a Christian.” “I hope I’m a
Christian.” “I’m trying to be a Christian.” That isn’t Christianity. We either
are or are not a Christian – no thinking, hoping or trying. It’s a
relationship, like a marriage. We either are or are not married. Or a status
like citizenship, we either are or are not a citizen. We either are or are not
a Christian. It’s not something we keep working for. It’s not something we need
to hope for. If we place our trust in God and accept His gift of forgiveness,
we are in, we are a Christian – no need to hope, wish, work for or wonder any
longer. You are a Christian.
Paul said, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded (convinced)
that He is able to keep (guard) what I’ve entrusted to Him (my life) until that
day (I reach Heaven or He returns).” II Timothy 1:12
I know and am persuaded – rather than I do, try, fail and
try again. God is able. It’s His work and His gift and He is able.
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