Not Christian Enough?

It seems that followers of Christ are sometimes their own worst enemies. We take the Truth of the Gospel and then make it nothing more than religion- a list of do’s and dont’s that somehow will establish a connection with God. In the end religion is a dead end.

In his book The Reason for God, Timothy Keller writes: “Think of the people you consider fanatical. They’re overbearing, self-righteous, opinionated, insensitive, and harsh. Why? It’s not because they are too Christian but because they are not Christian enough.”

Not Christian enough? Consider this. Some of us focus almost exclusively on the Jesus of the New Testament who challenges the religious leaders of His day and who raised the bar on moral expectations. We focus on the Jesus who said that even looking at someone lustfully is an act of adultery.

Where is the Jesus who had compassion on people? What about the Jesus who healed the man who was paralyzed and then challenged the man to leave his life of sin or something worse would come upon him? Or the Jesus who rescued the woman caught in the act of adultery and then said for her to leave her life of sin.

We are not Christian enough when we fail to represent the whole life of Christ to the world around us. Ask Keller said, we can appear self-righteous and harsh instead of compassionate for the people we live and work with. I’ve been guilty of this in the past. Have you?

Paul wrote in Ephesians four that we should speak the Truth in Love. Jesus never winked at sin, but his mission was to restore the relationship between God and mankind and he did that by perfectly balancing Grace and Truth.

Believing a Lie

This week I was reading in Hebrews 6: 13-19 which refers to God’s “unchangeable character” that makes it “impossible to lie” regarding the promises He has made to those who believe. As a believer, I can always trust the character of God. He will always lead me to Truth.

In contrast, John 8: 44 says “…when he (Satan) lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Today I am even more aware of the subtle lies all around me – you must make this much money or you are not successful-your happiness is all that really matters-God wants you to be happy, right?-my obedience to Godly principles always provides success. My belief in a lie doesn’t make it true. It may help me rationalize my behavior, but it does not become any more true.

Pilate asked Jesus, “What is Truth?”. The Gospel of John records Jesus’ answer in the eighth chapter when he says that “if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Based on these words, the freedom we all look for can only really be found as a true followers of Christ.  And the best way to be a follower is to hear and then do what Jesus says in our daily lives.

More often that not, we are told that we are living “free” when we are really doing what we want.  This type of “freedom” is in rebellion to God is one of Satan’s best lies. He tells us we deserve to live the way we choose. Surely, the God who created us would want us to be happy.  We shift the blame for our actions ultimately on God.

I am currently teaching a class on Spiritual Warfare. During the first week we set a foundation on the fact that spiritual battles are real and don’t always present themselves in some kind of supernatural way. In fact, most of the conflict happens between our ears…often in very well hidden ways.

The truth is we are in a battle for our lives and the lives of our families. We do have a powerful enemy who wants to make us miserable and ineffective.

In order to defeat evil, we desperately need to be aware of the Truth and avoid the subtle lies we hear and see all around us.  The only Truth I can depend on is the one written clearly to each of us in the Scripture.