Terri and I have been having some serious discussions over the last few days about church and Christianity. These have mostly cenetered around some specific topics. The thing that has been really brought to mind of late is the general problem Christians face when it comes to doing right, but not having to do right.
That's right. Christians partake in a religion whereby we are told we must "be perfect as Christ is perfect." Simultaneously, we are told "if we confess our sins, He is faithul and righteous to forgive." On the one hand, Christians toil to do what is right and avoid what is wrong. On the other, we fail every day to actually succeed and therefore require God's grace.
Corporately, this works out even worse. Christians in groups seem to magnify mistakes rather than magnify our good works. It's easier to say to encourage each other to seek a "me first" attitude because that's really what we'd prefer. Yet, the correct attitude is "God first." The really sad thing is that we will sometimes even claim to push "God first" and then start saying "me first" in our next sentence.
If anyone calls "us" hypocrites, they are right. We are. In fact, we're the worst hypocrites because we know the truth and still don't practice it. We sit high and mighty and draw out judgements on others by whispsering sins..."he's gay"..."she's selfish"..."he eats too much." And I do this as much as anyone else. I am too hypercritical. I want people to be perfect as I would define it. It's the same with all Christians.
In some ways, though, this is good. This is even healthy. While this might be seen as a form of complex, it's a good one---so long as we recognize it and admit it. That's where sanctification comes in. God works to refine our ability to resist sin through the process of admitting mistakes, humbling ourselves in brokeness, and repenting so we may at least do a bit better next time. All the while we look forward to The Day, when at last we will shed our "natural bodies" to put on our final "spiritual bodies."
That will be a good day.
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