Before you start reading this, please read it all the way to the end!
I have sat down with atheists, wiccan’s, lutheran’s, and catholic’s. You name it, I probably talked with them. The most common response that I hear from people is that they didn’t expect me to be as open and to listen to what they had to say and believe in. How often do we listen with the intent to listen instead of having a response on the back burner? As a Child of God, we are to show people who don’t believe, Christ’s character. What did Jesus do? He hung out with the outcasts. He hung out with the “big time” sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, and more than a couple people that the world would call “unworthy”. I love this about Jesus. That he would love and die for someone like me. Someone, who society and this world would call irrelevant and a waste of skin.
One of the other problems I heard from people who have strayed away from God and The Church, is that we have a bunch of denominations that all believe in God but are at one another’s throats. Some of these “Churches” have turned into a place of judgment instead of grace. Many churches today focus on laws, and regulations, instead of showing people the love of God when people come through the door. I am not trying to throw the stone at anyone. I am just going off of the conversations I have had and the thoughts that had come along with it.
If we aren’t displaying Jesus (I mean his character, not statues), when people walk through the door, what are they seeing? Not only at church either! We are supposed to be living this lifestyle outside those four walls! Before I knew God, I looked to the church and the people in the church to reflect who God is. Often what I saw in the church, I wanted no part of. If we aren’t displaying The Love of God, we aren’t doing what God has called us to do.
Another topic that has reoccurred in almost every discussion, is how judgmental we are. I actually remember feeling this way. I saw people who seemed to be “too clean” to get their hands dirty to hangout with the poor, addicted, or broken. I have been in their spot. I felt hurt and not accepted. We are called to love, it covers a multitude of sins! If we are the one’s who start to judge others, we are living by the law. If we live by the law, we have to live by the whole entire law, therefore we end up condemned. So let God, be God.
What I learned through my own experiences from coming from Catholicism to exploring different religions, to having a personal relationship with Christ was that I looked to people instead of God. I didn’t really know God at all. I took what people said were the “rules” of being a believer and didn’t compare them to The Bible. Through my journey of finally knowing who my Abba is, I had to unlearn almost everything I was taught. See the devil is super good at lying and trying to stop you from God’s purpose for your life. But with doing my own research, I found God to be pure love, forgiving, encouraging, patient, kind, and everything I ever looked for in this world. What I really was searching for was God. I searched in a lot of the wrong places! Including drugs, alcohol, and some really unhealthy relationships.
I really don’t know who this post is for, but I hope if it’s someone who doesn’t know God, they do their own research like I did. If Holy Spirit gave you a love tap in one of the areas above, remember God is a merciful God and full of grace. I am by no means perfect. However, I try to live my life in a way that shows people who don’t know God, who he really is. The less of me, the more of Chirst, the better of you and I are! That is what God asks us for. He wants you to reach out to him and give him your heart. He wants you to try. If you mess up, guess what? He still loves you and is rooting for you to try again! I pray that we become more like Christ everyday! Showing unconditional love to everyone, not just the people who are in our comfort zone.
