Glossy Images

More and more I'm realizing that there is one huge danger that sticks out in my mind that relates to people who have been Christians a while. I have been guilty of it myself. I'm challenged by it everyday. I'll tell you what I think it is later but first I want to share a story with you.

There is this girl I know. She's the outgoing, up for anything, always wanting to make others happy type. Despite her joy she lives with a continuous sorrow. You see, the joy she has now comes from her faith in Christ but there is a life before that faith. The sorrow comes from those in her life who haven't experienced the same joy she has yet. Allow me to elaborate.

My friend grew up in a home where she knew both of her parents loved her. She also knew that her dad was an alcoholic. Because of the addiction in his life her dad was incapable of being the husband and father he needed to be. She knew of his late nights out, or nights away. She knew of his infidelities and flirtations. She knew... and what she knew hurt. She longed for him to have the faith in Christ he spoke of in church with his Sunday School class or as a deacon. She longed for him to cry out to God the way she saw her mother do it. She longed, and she prayed, and she screamed, and she cried. The message he spoke of with his mouth he knew in his mind but it had no meaning in his heart. This was all very confusing to my friend. Her dad was very harsh and critical towards other "sinners." Harshest to the ones who dealt with the sins he loathed secretly in himself. She didn't understand why he was so aggressive towards others when he was tearing her family apart with his actions. My friend dealt with huge insecurities because of this. Mostly with guys and trust. Her trust was broken again and again and again with guys in her life as she grew older. But God had plans for her. He pulled her from a life that could have ended in pain and destruction and set her on a path of genuinely knowing Him. She met the one, true God. The one her mother cried and clung to. Not the image of Him painted with empty words and fruitless actions. God now continues to place people in her life that have similar struggles. She prays that God will use her life to affect others. My friend still prays for her dad. She still cries out to God for Him. She still has a place of grieving for him. But she has hope.

My friend... is me.

The danger that we face as Christ followers is forgetting what God saved us from. We should not dwell in our pasts but we must learn from it. It is very safe to surround ourselves with people who look like us, talk like us, and act like us but that is not what Jesus did. Jesus was perfect... who would he have hung out with when he came to earth? He was purposeful in being a friend to the sinners. That bears repeating. Jesus was purposeful in being a friend to the sinners.

It is so easy to criticize others. Usually the things we criticize the most are the things we struggle with in ourselves. I do it. I violently twitch inside when someone does something around me that I know I deal with in myself. I want to remember the things Christ has accomplished in me. I need to be reminded of His grace. If I forget the grace He's shown me then how can I be willing to tell others about it? If I forget His grace then how can I extend it to others? I don't want to live a life of glossy images and rose colored scenarios. God allowed me to face the trials in my life to glorify Him. I want my life to be a real example... not a fairy tale version of whatever I make it out to be. I love when my sister says, "don't be a stoner." I don't want to throw the stones of inadequacy at someone because they sure hurt when they are thrown at me. I ask God to never let me forget grace because people's lives are too valuable. My daddy's life is too valuable.

Ephesians 2
7 -10Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.