Do you sometimes feel like you can not "do enough" to be "good enough"? I think christians sometimes forget that we don't live under the old law of the 10 commandments where when people made mistakes they had to make atonement with animal sacrafices. People of that day were constantly living in fear of doing wrong, they worked very hard day in and day out, but could never achieve perfection. They always felt that if they didn't live perfectly, they were in trouble with God. There were specific rules and regulations that they were expected to live by. God knew that this option wasn't working so He gave us the ultimate sacrafice of His Son to change all this. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says. . .Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
God needed us to achieve perfection so we could live with Him through eternity, but He knew we could never achieve that on our own so He gave us Jesus to be our "One and Only Perfect Sacrafice" so we wouldn't have to go crazy trying to be perfect. He gave us repentance through prayer to ask for our forgiveness, and if you have accepted Jesus through baptism, this is an "Ultimate Gift".
I sometimes wonder why some Christians try to take us back to the Old Testament Law days of demanding for perfection, making us terrified to live life. And having some stand back in judgment feeling "full of themselves" while destroying other's journey to be "happy in Christ". Ephesians 2:8.9says. . .For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, least anyone should boast.
We all make many many mistakes everyday and I am sure that is never going to change. It hurts me when I am told about someone's experience with church or a "so-called" christian has been cruely judgmental and how many christians are unapproachable. I hate to see that distorted view of most of us.
We all need to be more kind, if we offend others, how does God view us? I want to be a fulfilled Christian who knows she makes mistakes and that I can be forgiven by God, not by my "so-called" judges. I am spending my life serving God and I am not going to allow people's opinions to discourage me. I want people to see God as a loving, caring, easily approachable God, and I'm going to do my best to present Him that way!
Take a look at your own approach towards people. Don't make church seem boring and stuffy, it's not, it's an awesome experience with a great loving network of caring people that most people would love to be a part of. If church isn't rewarding to you, re-examine yourself, spend time in the word, go to God in prayer (and I don't me repetition, He wants you to talk to Him about everything, He can't help you get close to Him if you don't communicate, He can't help you with life if you don't approach Him, He is a wonderful untapped awesome resource and people go through their lives miserable because they have no direction. Ask Him, he'll surprise you on your journey). Let's remember that we are God's representatives, don't act like you are perfect, that's a mockery to God's precious Son who died because we are not perfect. Admit when you do wrong and let others know the reason you are a christian is because you know you are a sinner and need Jesus as your Savior. I hope this will stimulate "new thinking" which will lead to a "new attitude". Let's change the opinions of so many so we can do what we are told to do. "Go ye therefore into the world preaching the gospel (the good news) that we can be forgiven and spend eternity with Him. That is truly the GOOD NEWS!
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