When insults turn out to be compliments (read the updated version!)

I want to start out this beautiful Sunday morning by saying that sharing today will hopefully make you stop and think about something.

Have you ever called someone a "Bible thumper" and meant it in a bad way?  Or called someone "holier than thou" because they're a Christian?  I stand guilty of this and never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought these terms would be used to describe me.

Is it bad to want to live a godly life?  Is it wrong to try and be a righteous person?  Is the "Golden Rule" still applicable today?   Is it the messenger that makes us uncomfortable?  Or do we find something within ourselves convicting us of sins when we hear the message that makes us want to avoid it?  Living in Utah, I have to add one question:  Is it because we that disagree with the doctrine of the LDS religion so much we tend to lump all believers into the same category?

I don't judge people.  It's not my place.  In fact God's Word is quite clear about this.  I try to remember I'm busy trying to remove the plank from my own eye so I'm probably not the guy to take the splinter from yours.  I share my faith with others because it's what God wants us to do.  It's the Great Commission He's given to believers to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  me sharing the Gospel is not me judging you.  

I used to avoid people who talked about Christ.  I didn't want to hear it because it made me uncomfortable.  I was fine with how I believed because it was convenient for me.  In hindsight, what made me uncomfortable was that I knew I was sinning but I didn't want to hear about it.  Again, it wasn't the messenger judging me, it was the message!  I was thinking about this today for some reason.  I think mostly because I got some grief about my faith from, of all people, the Mrs.  She called me holier than thou about two weeks ago because I dared to suggest she was living a sinful life (which somehow I was blamed for) and that for all the talk she was talking, her walk suggested a lack of understanding of God's Word.  Holier than thou was meant as an insult.  

To me it was a compliment.

Sharing the Gospel is not me judging you or anyone else.  It doesn't mean I think I'm better than you.  Quite the contrary.  I can't decide to accept Christ for you.  That's a decision only you can make.

Does hearing about Christ make you uncomfortable?  I think the reason I used to be was that I knew deep down that there were parts of my life that were sinful and I didn't want to face that.  I wanted to just go on living the way I was.  Church?  Christians?  I've seen them behave badly and used that as an excuse to live how I wanted to; with the mistaken notion that as long as I believed in God and believed Jesus was the Son, that was enough.  I didn't need to go to church to believe that.

I was an idiot.  Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV) says:  24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.  See, I told you I was an idiot and I learned this while taking an on-line Bible study class on how to pick the right local church.  BTW, I can honestly tell you it was the Lord who led me to my local church.  Expect more about this in tomorrow's post.

I have friends too that are, well, skeptical, about faith.  I had a long talk with one once who lectured me about how I was judging his faith, when in fact I hadn't said a word to him about it.  It was an interesting conversation where he pretty much accused me of being "holier than thou" without using those exact words.  I let him go on and on and just told him at the end that if what he told me was true, we really weren't that far apart.  What he told me about how he expressed his faith was done in private.  I had never seen these things from my friend in public. In fact, in public, it seemed to me he went out of his way to mock my faith.

I have another friend who questioned me about my faith and had a pretty good handle on what the responsibilities were of one who follows Christ.  I wondered to myself as he was speaking to me, does your life show what you know?  

On the other hand, I have a friend who sometimes thinks I tend to take things that happen to me too literally.  Maybe that's true.  But I think I'd rather be a bit wrong to take something from the Bible as written than to apply a twist to it to suit what I want it to rather than what it should mean.  Context for me is always key.  Here's an example of what I mean:

If there is a small fire in a waste basket in a building, is the building on fire or just the waste basket?  The fact is that there is a fire.  What exactly is on fire is open to interpretation.  It depends on the perspective of the person that sees the fire.

My point is this:  Yes there are those people that think they're somehow better than others because they live a righteous life.  I share from humility and a hope that you'll want for yourselves what I have.  I'm just a sinner trying to find his way to the promises that come through accepting the Savior's free gift of Salvation and I'm trying to share that Good News with you, my readers.

If anyone sharing the Gospel makes you uncomfortable, I'd humbly suggest to you that maybe today is a good day to examine why that is.

Jesus' message to us is one of forgiveness, of love, and a promise of life with Him in eternity.  He cleanses us of sin, gives us hope for a better tomorrow, and offers comfort and help when things are tough.  God blesses us in many ways, even with trial and tribulation, when we love the Son He loved enough to offer as a sacrifice for our collective sin.

That's the message for today.  It's a promise of hope!  If striving to be more like the Savior (and I have a LOT of work to do) is a bad thing, worthy of insult, then I'll take them all gladly.  To me, that's just another reminder that I'm on the right path!

Praise Jesus!

Coop

Oh, just as a post script to this blog entry, a hymn sung at church this morning should explain why I share what I do with you.  I hope you'll take the time to listen to it and find it inspiring. (click the word hymn.  It's a hyperlink to the hymn on YouTube.