I’ve never been so fearful to label myself a “Christian” as in my mess—
For fear of what other “Christians” may say.
Did I really just write that?!
Yes. Yes, I did.
But I’m also getting over it.
And I hope to be completely over it by the time I’m done with this sort of dissertation.
Usually, I love to write from place of inspiration. This time, it comes more from a place of frustration.
Maybe even grief.
I am not typically one to care what other people think; I know that not everyone will share my likes, interests, opinions, sense of style (ya should though), or even like me as a person and I’m completely okay with that. But it’s this Christ follower thing; this part of me that’s bigger than me— that’s what matters to me.
And it’s happened to me before, that I’ve walked through a valley in life, where walls of perceived perfection crumble down around me and I’ve heard those gasps.
“She calls herself a Christian?” Or,
“How could this happen to a Christian?” Etc..
I have however since then become completely convinced that God is way more interested in authenticity than the definition of “what a Christian should look like,” as penned by humans He created.
We have a come-as-you-are God; not a fake it til you make it; put on your Sunday best but scream at each other in the car the entire way to church kind of God. I’m convinced this grieves His heart.
God is in the business of people.
Humans. And there’s not one perfect, sinless one among us. Only Jesus accomplished that. I don’t care if you call yourself a Christian or not— you are a sinner. I am a sinner. We are all sinners.
God is the author of grace.
That’s it.
Simple.
Humans... we over complicate things.
Always, always over complicating things... if you call yourself a Christian and spend more time calling out sin in other people; that is, spend more time criticizing, concerned with what neighbors, friends, family, acquaintances may or may not be doing wrong—
Or preaching your doctrine of why this is all wrong, and the theology what makes you right, ahead of loving these very people—
I am going to call out counterfeit Christianity.
If you have to explain why one denomination is right, and another is wrong—
I call counterfeit Christianity.
I’m not saying it’s wrong to have denominations. But the moment the denomination becomes more important to you than loving the people under its wing—
I call counterfeit Christianity. Bible babble.
What denomination was Jesus?
Yeah...
That’s what I thought.
I think the Bible is pretty clear; love God, love others.
I think Jesus would be on the ground washing the feet of all the neighbors, friends, family, and acquaintances we are so quick to judge. Of all denominations; atheists, agnostics, everyone in between—I mean, human? Yep, you qualify. Take off those shoes.
Jesus was in the business of inclusivity.
Somehow modern Christianity isn’t synonymous with that?
It’s like this. And it may “seem” so righteous, this business of asking for prayer on behalf of one another... but Betty— Instead of picking up the phone and asking Sally to pray for Jody because Jody is sinning and clearly fallen, leave the phone in its gosh dang hook and go wash Jody’s feet.
Got it?
Love people. Serve them.
The minute your doctrine becomes more important than the Nazarene it’s about, I’m calling counterfeit.
The minute you start to argue about “how” to break bread in communion than the souls around the table— I’m calling counterfeit.
The minute a church begins to value an attendance number over the soul in the seat—I’m calling counterfeit.
A few more things I’d like to discuss about this so called Christian life—
God never promised a stress-free, problem free life in return for walking with Him.
Yet one of my favorite holier-than-thou questions upon voicing any sort of a life problem.
“Well, have you prayed about it?”
One- Prayer is not a tool for God to magically zap problems out of your life (I mean, He could do that- but I think He’s much more interested in working through our lives).
Two- having problems is allowed; not indicative of divine retribution.
And yes actually, I have prayed about it.
But probably not in the way that you’re suggesting. Prayer is not (in my opinion) a “stop, drop, and roll” type of rescue event.
The Bible instructs us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:16), implying that prayer should be a constant sort of dialogue throughout our day. It’s not this lofty thing where you have to get on your knees, hush everyone around you, close your eyes and fold your hands (I’m not saying that there are not times for that).
Prayer shouldn’t be an afterthought to put the fire out; prayer should be an all-day everyday way of life.
Don’t let those who suggest or treat prayer as a “tactic” convince you otherwise.
It is a walk, through your Gethsemane, and through your everyday garden. It is a dialogue with God throughout the day— because He is always there— and He cares about the minutiae of your day. If His eye is on the sparrow, He sure as heck has His eye on your day.
Next “thing,” about this Christiandom- Jesus was known as a friend of sinners—
He didn’t stand on a street corner holding a sign with bold, angry red letters spelling out “REPENT!”
I think you’d find him hanging out in bars, in brothels, hanging on the words of those hurting most; offering words of hope and healing.
And forgiveness.
And his crew, the disciples? The motley crew. Misfits of society. Ordinary people.
These were not people who went to Bible college, completed X number of sacraments at the local church, took three classes every fourth Sunday of the month, recited sacred words under a full moon standing on their heads, said the books of the Bible backwards in under thirty seconds, then received a gold star and promotion to exclusive leadership. No, no, no.
No.
Jesus doesn’t work like that.
Remember the rules from earlier? Love God, and love others. Jesus just asked His disciples to lay down their lives and follow him- and they did.
And we wonder why (if you call yourself a Christ follower) today’s society sometimes seems to have some pretty harsh views when it comes to evangelicals. Christians almost seem to be labeled far more often as “bigoted” than “loving” by mainstream media... accused of forcing their views and gospel upon others; plank in thine own eye type of doctrine.
I am not really sure that society is so far off— but I’m also not sure society hasn’t been introduced to a counterfeit Jesus, and that’s the true tragedy.
In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a parable about wheat and tares. In modern English-
There was a field, and a bunch of good and bad seed got mixed up. The plants (the good grain, the wheat, and the weeds- the tares) all looked pretty much identical. But come harvest time- only the wheat produced grain; the tares were burned.
I’m taking this discussion a step further, at the risk of novella length.
If you are a follower of Christ, and experiencing a valley or hardship in life, please do not let the counterfeit Christians make you feel that you have done something wrong to be experiencing hardship in your life; or that you’re dealing with it in an un-Christian way (I mean, unless that’s truly the case but I will leave that between you and God).
I’ve written this before and will pen again here. As Christians, we were never promised life free from hardship; just that through our storms of life, the maker of the wind and the waves would be in the boat with us, always. And times when the outward storm rages on, He can still speak “peace, be still” into our hearts.
God did not keep His own son from suffering. We will experience suffering.
Adversity has purpose in our lives; builds our integrity, fosters dependency on God, builds our character. And after all, character is what matters- I like to think of it as the way God sees us. Reputation is something man made, and at the end of the day I would much rather rest in the knowledge of my Creator than in what His creation thinks they may or may not know about me.
Character, or integrity, is what comes out of us when the world rains down on us.
It’s our one possession that can never be taken away. You can’t fake it. And there’s no such thing as a “minor lapse” in integrity. And at the end of the day, it’s between you and God. If you are a person of integrity, it follows you should be known as a person of integrity, with good reputation and character, right?
But we do live in a fallen world, and it doesn’t always work that way.
Job was a man of integrity, of outstanding moral character. In his suffering, his friends attacked his reputation- surely God would spare the righteous from the sort of calamity Job is suffering, and so surely either Job or someone in his household was guilty of some awful transgression. This is the theology of divine retribution; quite opposite the grace that Jesus offers.
Or how about Jesus himself, a sinless man of perfect integrity- the religious leaders of the day themselves, the Pharisees, led the assault in Jesus’ integrity.
In Matthew 9:32-34 they accuse Jesus of using demonic power. In John 7, they again charge Him with being demon possessed, and with being incompetent. They try to arrest Him (the temple guards can find no opportunity to do this). These religious leaders were not only jealous of Jesus and His following, but His radical teachings directly threatened their authority and entire religious system (and way of life)- politics, in a way. Ultimately these religious leaders conspired to kill a sinless man.
If we see how the reputation of a man of integrity like Job, or even Jesus, came under attack- we should really not be at all surprised if we find our name on a dartboard at some point.
And it doesn’t mean darts don’t hurt.
Those babies are sharp.
But at the end of the day, it’s not your uncle’s best friend’s cousin’s neighbor’s opinion of you that bears weight before God’s throne of grace.
Who does God say that you are?
Let’s rephrase that.
Who does God say that I am?
What’s my relationship with His son, Jesus?
That’s what matters.
Period.
I’m not interested in what your counterfeit Jesus thinks.
But I’ll forgive you and love you anyway, because that’s what Jesus the Nazarene would do.
Love God and the crazy humans He’s created. Anything more or less—
Call counterfeit.
