Where do we go from here?

"I've tried to do all this on my own, not thinking once of what You've shown. All that I've done has blinded me to everything that You have for me. I want you to know I finally see that You simply love, despite all the stupid things I've done. It's hard to remember, because You simply love, even though I know not what I've done."

-Pillar



Alright, where do we go from here now that our cover as Christians is blown? "Good job Chris, you just told everyone that we aren't as good as they thought we were. We don't have all the answers. In fact, you just told everyone that God loves everyone equally and won't love us more than them!"

It's time to be redefined. We need to rid ourselves of preconceived ideas that are far from Biblical. For instance, so many things are taboo to talk about in Church because there is the constant whispering and looks of shock when it is mentioned. Mainly, our personal sins. The idea that we are as faulty as everyone else in the world, regardless of what they believe. We need to step back and take a look inside ourselves. What we might find would scare the self-righteousness right out of us. Christians don't know as much as they thought they did, aren't as good as they thought they were, and are far more prideful and self-righteous than we say we are.

I don't know why we cannot try and understand that all of this is out of hand. We've been heading no where really fast and never knowing that our past would make us feel alone. Now that our cover is blown, we can see how much we've grown. The Church has dirty little secrets and we are trying hard to keep them, out of sight and out of mind, but we cannot hide. The end will come eventually, we have to take control and drive ourselves with the hope in the One who won't let go.

When we realize we are just as messed up as the people blowing themselves up in the Middle East and ramming airplanes into buildings, we will finally understand that it is astounding that Jesus loves any of us. Jesus doesn't love you because you happen to show up in a building called a "church." In my opinion, "church" should be a place we charge our batteries and then head out and get back to living for God. We religionize (copyright Chris Freeman, because that will be a word in the dictionary one day) everything. Bracelets, necklaces, earrings, stickers, lisence plates, music, and so many other things. We're seperating ourselves from a world that is longing for hope and peace and friendship and laughter and joy. Jesus Christ NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER seperated himself from the people He was sent to save. He didn't say "my people cannot go to school with those wretched infidels!" We are no better than the Muslim extremists in the Middle East. In fact, we are probably worse. That's the beautiful thing about God. He loves us regardless of our faults. I think the church has forgotten that tid bit of information.

"Oh my Lord, he has an earring. Forgive him Lord! We need to straiten him out."

"Oh no! He smokes. My children cannot hang out with him anymore. He is a bad influence. Obviously he has faltered in his walk with God."

That, my friends, is the church of today- a church that is living a lie from satan. Satan wants us seperated from those who do not believe in Jesus Christ because we might rub off on them. Parents are afraid of "sinners" rubbing off on their children, but what if it was the other way around? God did not forbid that we go out into the world to shine and change it. In fact, Jesus wasn't even in the synogogue, or temple, that often. He had better things to do, like change lives by being out in the world. Those "other" people and "sinners" are hurting and lonely and crying and dying JUST LIKE YOU AND ME.

I want to say this as a type of disclaimer. I don't know everything. I know a lot less than I thought I did. A lot of people like to argue with me over some of the things I wrote in this entry. I am going to steal Steve Brown's quote and say "you haven't lived long enough or sinned big enough to have an opinion on that."