I just finished watching the movie Saved for the first time. I'd avoided it for a long time because at some point people told me to because of how it portrayed Christians. It actually points out some of the things that are wrong with ultra-conservative Christianity and how judgmental it's gotten.
I'm not going to lie - I was once one of those super judgmental people. It was actually Casting Crowns' song "Does Anybody Hear Her" that changed the way I look at people. The following summer, I saw the movie Rent for the first time (which some other well-meaning Christian had told me to avoid), and all I could think was "If Jesus came to Earth today, he'd be hanging out with people like that - they need Him most." Jesus didn't command us to make sure other people follow His rules, He commanded us to love Him and love people.
Does this mean that we should do whatever the heck we want? Certainly not - God like a father sets rules and guidelines so that we don't hurt ourselves or others. But I also think that God knows that we're human and imperfect and will screw up, and if we strive to love people, we'll manage to follow most of the rules. If we spent more time loving our neighbor than fighting about hot-button issues, we could be a much more powerful body of Christ.
The sermon series at my church from Memorial Day to Fourth of July weekend is "Set Free." Today one of our overseas missionaries preached on 2 Corinthians 3:7-18. Verse 17 reads "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom." The verses leading up to that describe how things changed from the old covenant (The Law) to the new covenant (The Gospel). In the sermon, our missionary talked about how The Law shows us that we're imperfect and screwed up but gives us no chance of redemption. The Gospel sets us free from all the crap of the world.
I've lived through a lot of crap in recent years, through the last year in particular. I've been tied down to the guilt and shame of my imperfections, and, quite frankly, it sucks. I could find temporary joy in activities and time with people I loved, and some of those things were great while they lasted, but they were nothing with the joy I've rediscovered in the faith that no matter what other people think of me or what I think of myself for that matter, God's love for me is infinite, unchanging, and unconditional. It is in that joy that I find hope in an uncertain future and confidence that I matter in the world.
For the first time in years I want to share my faith with everyone I meet. I don't mean that in the talking to people about "finding Jesus" or "getting saved" kind of way. I mean in showing love to every person I meet and trying to reflect the infinite, unchanging, unconditional love that I've discovered. If faith comes up, that's great. People who are hurting don't need someone to sit and tell them that if they have Jesus in their lives, everything will be okay. They need someone to love them and to walk with them however needed. Jesus left the perfection of heaven to walk with imperfect humans that the religious leaders of the day didn't approve of and walk with those imperfect humans through the muck of the world. If we as the Church as a whole are Christ-followers, can't we do the same thing?
It's hard and you won't be perfect at it. Heaven knows I'm not. My particular fault is struggling to forgive people who have wronged me or people I love, particularly when in the aftermath they still think that they did the 100% right thing in the situation (and I'm not talking about times my feelings got hurt because social anxiety means I'm oversensitive; I'm talking about things like losing an entire friend group in one fell swoop when I expressed concern about the excessive drinking habits of one or things like seeing my friends who needed intensive psychiatric help be pulled from therapy programs because their insurance companies are too ignorant about necessary treatment for mental illness). I'm working on it one day at a time, and I'm trying to replace anger with forgiveness and resentment with love. I'm slowly trying that whole "turn the other cheek" and "pray for your enemies" thing that Jesus talked about. We're not going to be perfect at it, but if we really want to share Jesus with the world, we need to stop fighting people less and start loving people more.
