I recently read a blog by my friend Kaitlyn about apparent hypocrosy surrounding the modesty deal with Christian girls. While I won't go into modesty and the importance of this topic, I do want to go into hypocrosy in today's church and today's society.
If we live one way with Christians and another around non-Christians, what are we proclaiming? If we say it's not good to steal and we go and borrow a CD and never return it, what are we proclaiming? If we say it's great to encourage each other and go and slander someone or use profanity, what are we proclaiming? If we say it isn't good to lust and then we watch innaprop movies or shows that have strong innuendo, what are we proclaiming? PROCLAIM THE NAME!
One thing that always gets me whenever I find myself questioning my motives and whether or not I'm for some reason being hypocritical, is the first line of the DC Talk's Christian song, "What if I Stumble." It says, "The single greatest cause for atheism today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk out the door and and deny Him by their lifestyle. That's what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
I know this hits home to pretty much any and every Christian who listens to this song but I think it gets written off as just another nice thought--like the old cliche sayings always do. This, friends, is NOT just another nice thought or good thing to think about. This is for real!
Newsflash: We are in a spiritual battle of God vs. Satan! Period. --ironic I know ;)
How can we as Christians, soldiers for God's end, say all of the "Christanese" and not live the Christian keys? Wake up brothers and sisters, Satan is alive and well and he will most definitely use all your mistakes against you. If we aren't advertising for Christ then we're advertising for Satan--there's only two sides to this war.
Now, don't let this scare the poo out of you by thinking that you have to be perfect or everyone dies. That's just pure foolishness. Sometimes, however, I do get caught up in this thought process that I need to be perfect or someone's gonna see that discrepency between my talk and my walk but that's why there's the rest of this song, you see. That's why there's grace!
DC Talk goes on to ask what happens if they stumble or fall when they're doing the Christian walk (the lyrics and song are great if you wanna check them out!). The song talks about all of their fears about needing to lead by example and how hard that is when non-Believers scrutinize our faith to measure how worthy God is of their time and love. The end of the song sums it with truth when it says, "I hear you whispering my name, you say, my love for you will never change."
God knows when you stumble, He knows when you fall. He knew all of this before you ever even began to walk on this earth--or as my dad would say, God says, "I knew this since before you were born!" This should be even more encouraging!! God knew that you weren't perfect at birth, when you became a Christian, when you live the Christian life but you know what, this didn't stop Him for one second from dying for your very life. He knew your weaknesses, your failures, your faults and yet this one Holy and Perfect God of all things great and small died for YOU!
This blows my mind and it scares the bejeebers out of me to think that my own selfish will and hypocrosy can and sometimes will stop a person from wanting to experience this same exact love. I know that I can't be perfect and God knows that I can't be perfect, but this gives me absolutely no excuse to keep on living for myself and to keep on talking without walking. A baby talks before he walks but at some point he picks himself up and walks until he only stumbles just a few times.
Don't continue to crawl around babbling about our God like He's something to take for granted, stand tall and proclaim the glory of our Risen King and Glorious Father! What do you have to lose? Yourself. AWESOME!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment