What does being a follower of Christ actually look like? Musings of my mind.
This is just something that has been on my mind. Sometimes things in life cause you to change your perspective. Or you know you just need to figure it out for your self. This is a combination of both of those things.
Does it look like the people that show up at most churches on Sunday? What if we are supposed to show up on Sunday morning the same person that we are and look like the rest of our week? I think it’s supposed to look like a bunch of totally imperfect people who are figuring out how to walk with Jesus. They don’t get it right all the times. They have old habits that die hard. But they are trying their best to seek and love him. They care more about souls than rules or politics. Because rules and politics don’t win people to Jesus. They care about social justice issues because everyone is made in the image of God. They don’t care about the religion, sexual orientation, political party, or anything else of a person...they really just care about the person. For everyone bears God’s image. It doesn’t look like a bunch of falsely perfect-on-the-outside people that a lot of churches see. It’s diverse. And beautiful because of its diversity. It’s ruled by grace, not rules. (Now yes there are instances of “do this” in the Bible, but it’s for our benefit that we operate that way...the way we were created. It’s not our salvation or a check list) they don’t strictly pick sides because a lot of life is lived in the uncomfortable middle. They’re humble, they seek God, and they wish to see the world changed.
Jesus was never afraid to speak truth, but he always did it in love. Never in judgement. And the people he most upset when speaking truth were the religious leaders, not the "sinners". He changed the "sinners" lives because of his radical truth with love.
UPDATE:
This blog post by Gary Thomas explains some of my thoughts, but in a more eloquent manner.
Does it look like the people that show up at most churches on Sunday? What if we are supposed to show up on Sunday morning the same person that we are and look like the rest of our week? I think it’s supposed to look like a bunch of totally imperfect people who are figuring out how to walk with Jesus. They don’t get it right all the times. They have old habits that die hard. But they are trying their best to seek and love him. They care more about souls than rules or politics. Because rules and politics don’t win people to Jesus. They care about social justice issues because everyone is made in the image of God. They don’t care about the religion, sexual orientation, political party, or anything else of a person...they really just care about the person. For everyone bears God’s image. It doesn’t look like a bunch of falsely perfect-on-the-outside people that a lot of churches see. It’s diverse. And beautiful because of its diversity. It’s ruled by grace, not rules. (Now yes there are instances of “do this” in the Bible, but it’s for our benefit that we operate that way...the way we were created. It’s not our salvation or a check list) they don’t strictly pick sides because a lot of life is lived in the uncomfortable middle. They’re humble, they seek God, and they wish to see the world changed.
Jesus was never afraid to speak truth, but he always did it in love. Never in judgement. And the people he most upset when speaking truth were the religious leaders, not the "sinners". He changed the "sinners" lives because of his radical truth with love.
UPDATE:
This blog post by Gary Thomas explains some of my thoughts, but in a more eloquent manner.
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