Shhh, You’re not Perfect
I find it funny how Christians are not allowed to make mistakes. We must be dotting all the right i’s and crossing all the right t’s—the right way. God forbid we confess our sins and they don’t line up with the ‘good’ sins. You know, the ones that are technically a sin but are deemed ok compared to the biggies. I mean, you didn’t kill anyone so you’re still in God’s graces. But if you’ve even as much as thought about anything ‘not so good’ “You’re going to hell unless you repent and fast for the rest of the year.”
Sounds crazy, I know. But I feel like that’s the impression we give and get at times. Or, maybe it’s just me in which case you can totally disregard everything I’ve just said. BUT, if by chance you happen to understand what I’m saying then I encourage you to read on. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably struggled silently in an area only because you didn’t feel like you had the freedom to share it openly due to the looks or judgements you may receive.
Quick disclaimer: I am in no means wanting to bash or put anyone down at all, that is not my heart!! I simply want to point out what I’ve noticed and hopefully it’ll inspire us all to pray and seek God for freedom in this area. Y’all, we can’t help to lead a dying world to Jesus if we’re pretending that we’re too good to help one another and that the world is not good enough for our help. That wasn’t the heart of Jesus and it shouldn’t be the heart of the church.
It stands to reason that we’d be less apt to judging one another’s sin and more graceful toward one another. I mean, if Jesus paid for our sins SO THATwe would not only be free from them, but wholeas well, shouldn’t we stand with one another and help to lead them out and not more into it? Yes, we have Jesus! Yes, we have the Holy Spirit! Yes, we have the Word of God! THANK YOU JESUS for ALL OF THE ABOVE! But guess what? We also have one another!
“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” Romans 15:1
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2
“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:4
“But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” 1 John 3:17
If we’re made in the Image of God, and we are, then shouldn’t we treat brokenness like He does? God is NEAR to the broken-hearted and He rescues those whose spirits are crushed. (Psalm 34:18) Shouldn’t we treat sin like He does? Of course, He doesn’t condone it but remember Jesus? For God SO LOVED the world that He GAVE. (see John 3:16) Not only has He paid for sin; past, present and future; He’s empowered us to not be enslaved to it however, there are those who aren’t so strong. Because of that, we should all the more be willing to help them and show them grace like Jesus did for us. After all, loved people love people, healed people heal people, free people free people and whole people desire to see others whole. I don’t know about you but I desire to do better in this area. Let’s hold each other accountable, we win TOGETHER.