I’m a Christian, but I’m not religious.
At least in the sense most people seem to equate religion.
I have friends of varying beliefs and I love them all equally. I love both those friends who love me back and some who do not. I don’t have a million judgements or opinions about lifestyle choices or whatever.
In fact, many Christians do not.
I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true. It took me a long time, a lot of guilt, and a lot of angst and tears to get to a point where I see how few “rules” there really are, but I can say with complete authenticity: there is not one person I wish to judge. And, not a single ounce of that is because of me. I, alone, would have a lot of anger and resentment. A lot.
Forgiveness in love is what Christianity is about. That’s it. Period.
For me and many others, it’s not about going to church on Sunday or ceremonies. It’s about packing as much love and encouragement into a day as possible because I’m truly free.
Just think about it for a second. You’re bound by devotion to something outside of yourself, whether it be popularity, career, money, relationships, or possessions. Yes, we all fall prey to those snares. As confusing as it is, that’s kind of the point. That’s humanity. That’s what we do.
I believe that God gave me saving grace for the simple price of:
- Accepting and acknowledging that He loves me enough to send his only son to die for me
- Making a decision to seek Christ and know him
With that, comes the ability to give grace and with grace comes freedom. He hasn’t fixed every problem or allow me to have everything I thought I wanted or needed. In fact, much of what I thought I wanted I couldn’t have actually handled and He’s given me gifts I never would have thought I’d need.
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not about earning a spot in heaven. That’s not possible in a world where we all fall short of the grace of God. Every.single.teeny.tiny.sin separates me from God and makes it that much easier to fall into devotion to something else. Every exception I make for myself and every expectation I put on someone else takes something away from my faith and my life.
You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You’ve been remade.~ Tenth Avenue North
I understand all the arguments against and I see how a lot of it would sound a little crazy.
I really do.
That’s what makes believing so hard and yet so worth it.
I don’t want to shove any of this down anyone’s throat. I promise. This is what I believe and, because I care, I want everyone to have the same level of peace and comfort I have. There’s nothing in it for me.
I don’t go into depth about what I believe often. That’s because I really don’t think I do it justice. I never want to regurgitate a bunch of empty jargon you’ve heard a million times. This is a leap of faith for me. I’m trusting, that if you choose to read all of this, God’s going to show you something.
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Our beliefs are a little different, but many of them are the same. I DO believe going to church is part of the Christian life, going to worship God with like-minded Christians. But the idea of forgiveness is the same. God forgives, and WE have to forgive. And love. Love is hard sometimes, especially when we have to sacrifice something, like time, for someone else.
I am a little confused about what you said about it not being about getting a spot in Heaven. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, we CAN have a spot in Heaven. Unless you were talking about our own little SPECIAL spot in Heaven.
Sin definitely separates us from God, but when we ask His forgiveness, that sin is remembered no more. We have to be diligent in being the most faithful Christian we can be, then when we sin, we need to ask forgiveness. And we will only get that forgiveness if we’re willing to forgive others.
I respect and admire you for putting your faith and belief right out there for the world to see. That takes so much courage because the world isn’t very kind to Christians these days.
Hi Lauralynn
thanks for asking more questions. I don’t think our beliefs are really different necessarily. Much of that comes with time, but they aren’t “rules”. As Christ said himself: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40 NKJV)
I wasn’t saying church isn’t important. I was saying that’s not what it is about. You can go to church every Sunday and still not live by faith or strive to know God. You can also have a non-traditional church of believers. The point there is community and accountability (ie the body of Christ)
As for heaven, yes. I was saying its not something that can be EARNED through works. We don’t do things to get into heaven. We do them because we’ve already been given heaven. I believe a life lived by faith produces works.
I think what you’re saying is what the Bible says in James 2:18. “…and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” If we have faith, there WILL be works.
No, we don’t deserve Heaven, so we can’t earn it. Jesus paid the price for us.
Yup! That’s the one
thanks!
There is a reason the bible talks about undeserved kindness. No matter what we do, we always fall short.
It doesn’t mean we don’t try to show our appreciation for all that’s been given to us, but it’s not about racking up tally marks in some sort of book. And thank goodness for that – because we’d probably have a lot more red marks than black if that were the case.
Love you girl! You said it so well.
also – that’s pretty much my favorite song ever. =) Last night I sat in front of my computer and edited pictures writing a blog post in my head and i just couldn’t get the words out. God has been speaking to me about love and devotion this week.. I’m just not sure what to do with it all just yet!