I just wanted to say thanks for returning if you have read my first post of “What’s in a Name”. If you haven’t, I encourage you to read it first. Otherwise, what I have to say next might not make sense. Knowing me, it probably won’t make sense anyway. Funny, it all seems so logical in my mind.
In My first post of “What’s in a Name”, I left off talking about society’s perception that Christians are hypocrites, and I blamed it on the traditional church of our parent’s generation. After pondering how to counter the perception of Christians being hypocrites, I came to the conclusion that countering the argument is pointless. Let’s face it, we are hypocrites; and so are non-Christians, and Muslim’s, Buddhist’s, blah, blah, blah! The reality is that labeling Christians as hypocrites is a cheap and easy accusation that’s been thrown at the Christian faith; and guess what? It stuck! By the way, the definition for hypocrite is: a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.
After reading the definition above, can you really disagree? I realize there are Christians who are very good at being Christ-like; I applaud you. The reality is, that if one of the apples is bad, the whole lot must be as well. But that’s just a perception right? Yeah, and people’s perception is their reality. So how is our parent’s Church generation to blame? First understand, I know there are wonderful Churches out there doing great things for God’s kingdom. However, if we are judged as one, which we are, then we’re all riding this wave together. So…..finally, here it is.
The Traditional Church many of us grew up in spent their time and energy “defending” themselves against the claim of hypocrisy, while at the same time pointing our finger at the sins of those around us. Time and time again, the church acted pious and Christ-like on Sunday’s; hiding their sin from those in the pew next to them. All while living their separate lives throughout the week, and looking down upon our "pagan" neighbors.
I was one of them, I learned from the best and was good it. But at the end of the day, guess what I was? Yep, a Hypocrite. In my opinion, the best defense for that argument is no defense; agree with those who label us in that manner. You can fight all you want, but as soon as a Christian pops up on the TV involved in a scandal, or some dude with a fish on the back of his car cuts somebody off, you’ve lost all credibility.
So does God need us to conduct damage control at this point? Not hardly! God’s been doing a pretty good job of keeping this ship afloat, and he doesn’t need us jacking it up. What he does need from us is to be REAL! We are so busy hiding the messes in our lives that we forget where we’ve come from. It’s like trying to carry 20 lbs of crap in a 5 lbs bag; it just doesn’t fit and people smell you long before they see you.
Let’s do all Christians a favor, and clear up our good name. Let’s agree that we are hypocrites at times. Let’s agree that we are sinners saved by Grace. Let’s all agree that we’re carrying around a load of crap and people will see straight through us if we aren’t genuine in our faith.
At Church this morning we sang “Beautiful Things”. As I thought about the words of the song, I became thankful that God has taken the “crap” in my life and used it for his glory. You see, God didn’t cause me to sin, and he definitely didn’t want me to sin, but he loves me just the same. God would rather I sin and tell others about my mistake for his glory, than for me to sin and say nothing.
I’ll close with this question for you to ponder. How many people have we turned away from the faith by "defending" ourselves, instead of talking about what really matters? That would be Jesus if anyone was wondering; and guess what He did when he was accused of crimes he didn't commit? He didn't speak a word, He let his actions speak for Him. Over 2000 years ago and He's still speaking. Follow His example.
Next post for “What’s in a Name”: Discipleship
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