Friday Night Thoughts

There's been a lot going on.

I just haven't felt much for sharing anything. Well, I have. But I preferred to have it inside my head.

It's a lot. And I carry it much of the time (needlessly). But I'm wired differently. And I think about everything.

One thing that got reiterated to me this week was one of the common perceptions of Christianity today. I read about this previously with the book "unchristian" and tuesday I heard from the author of a book called "they love Jesus but not the church" which, apparently, concluded many of the same things. Sadly, three things are uniform when it comes to non-christian views of christians:

1) They're judgmental.
2) They're arrogant.
3) They're hypocritical.

I thought about it, and I would agree that many, many Christians are this way. I only have to look at my own life for examples.

Time and time again I try to fit people into little boxes that I have made for them. If I perceive someone to be a certain way, I will keen in on certain traits that I expect them to have. Or I may try assuming that they'll only act a certain way. Basically, I will cast expectations on them without even doing proper due diligence. What a stupid thing to do. I would be wise to learn that people are people--and differences among them are to be celebrated.

This goes hand in hand with another awful truth about me--I think I know everything. Often times I will charade with this false sense of security pretending I know everything there is to know about many avenues of life. I don't think it's a stretch to say that I may have a sprinkling of knowledge about some things, but not nearly as much as I think I do. The sad thing is that as a result of this attitude, I instinctively create this "I'm better than you" aura if I sense that you're even slightly less intelligent than me. Another stupid thing to do. It's cliche, but it's so true--truly wise people are the ones who completely understand that they know nothing at all.

The thing that bugs me most about my hypocrisy is that it's awful. I gladly boast about how much I love Jesus (which I really, truly do), but my life doesn't consistently tell the same story. I wish I wanted to pursue God as much as He pursues me. But, there is hope--life change happens in the smallest of increments.


This is not to say that I've never been on the receiving end of these Christian misperceptions either. I need look no further than last year for evidence.

Judgmental ("You're doing nothing but destroying our reputation")
Arrogant ("We're just doing what God wants us to do")
Hypocritical ("You'll always be the son I never had")

Whatever.


All of this simply goes to show just how truly curious God is. As children of God (as we can claim to by the bible), we should be the opposite of all of these things.

We are champions of grace because we have been judged the most impartially (2 Corinthians 5)
We should be among the most humble because we realize there's nothing for us to boast about (Philippians 3)
Our lives should be congruent with our work which should completely eliminate any possibility of hypocrisy (1 Thessalonians 4)

All of this is to point to the universal truth that we, as Christians, should never lose sight of. That God is not some impersonal, foreign God who is impossible to please. That instead our Savior has a face we can know and loves us a ridiculously large amount. And that the intersection of our depravity and His purity is precisely what makes life so fulfilling.