Are we Compelling, or Repelling?

I recently read a quote that challenged my “Christianity” to the core.

You know the kind of moment, when you see, hear or read something that practically shoves a mirror in your face and shouts, “This is you!!”

“If being a Christian has made you a sourpuss, you’re doing it wrong.”

BAM!!!!!

Right in the kisser!

Of course, if you know me, you’re probably thinking, “Mike’s not what I’d call a sourpuss.”

But if you’re my wife (and only one of you should be answering that with a ‘yes’), you’ve heard me grumble about people not taking life or God or the Bible serious enough quite a few times.

And so it dawned on me that in what should be the most joyous time of my life, I still tend to be unhappy way too much.

But I’m a Christian, shouldn’t I be getting upset about people not taking God serious?

Don’t I have the right to be upset?

No!

And though I could write volumes about all the reasons why, I’ll just give you the main reason for this post’s sake.

When Jesus said “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” in John 13:34-35, He wasn’t talking to non-believers.

He was talking to His inner-most band of brothers.

But the reason He said it was precisely so non-believers would hopefully observe a trait among true believers so distinctively authentic that it compelled them to take a closer look at Christianity.

And here I am, grumbling about people not taking Christianity serious enough, when the whole time I am just as guilty about not digging deep enough into actual Christianity myself.

Because if I were, I would find that at the very center of Christianity is a God who humbled Himself to the level of a human, sacrificed His life to a brutal death, and with one of His dying breaths begged for the forgiveness of those who were killing Him.

Now, does that sound like the Christianity I claim to have in my heart when I’m doing my grumbling?

I think not.

Maybe you’re still not convinced I have a big problem.

After all, I’m only human, right?

Well, consider the following.

Many of us have rolled up to a red-light at an intersection or exit ramp off the interstate and experienced cynical thoughts about that unshaven stranger holding the cardboard sign asking for money.

And who could blame us?

I mean, haven’t we all heard stories about how some of these individuals make healthy livings this way, or using the cash to buy booze or drugs?

True or not, the counterfeit homeless repel us from the people who truly and desperately need a helping hand.

To a certain extent, could the same thing be happening between “Christians” and non-believers?

This reminds me of a line from a John Eldredge book that went something like this.

“If you want to destroy the economy, flood the market with counterfeit bills.”

So doesn’t it stand to reason that the best way to destroy Christianity is to flood the market with counterfeit Christians?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that I – or anyone like me who still struggles from time to time – is a counterfeit Christian.

However, if a non-believer – knowing I’m a proclaimed Christian – were to catch me in the middle one of my minor self-righteous fits, what kind of an impression am I making on them?

Sure, you and I both know that we all, like the apostle Paul declared, fall short of the glory of God.

But is my behavior compelling non-believers (i.e.: giving them a plausible reason to explore Christianity), or repelling them (i.e.: just pushing them further way)?

To the non-believer, I’m essentially a religious hypocrite, and I’ve just given them more ammunition.

When I think about this, it honestly makes me feel ill that I may be driving people away from Christianity, making me realize I have plenty of “dying to myself” still left to do.

Perhaps you do too?

And if so, here’s a question for us both to ponder:

If our own actions sometimes bother us – the proclaimed believers – what is it doing to the non-believers who so desperately need someone to compel them?

The mission and intended ministry behind “A Changing Grace”

Simply put, I am someone who had a completely backward view of what it truly means to be a Christian.

I used to think being a Christian meant you had to be someone who “had everything all together” and were able to successfully check off the admirable “Living Right” check boxes of life.

The problem with that is it puts everything on MY shoulders and MY power to reach a certain status or salvation, which is impossible.

The trouble with that way of thinking is that it usually manifests itself in two dead-end scenarios.

On one hand, if we are somehow able to do “all the right things” (which we can’t do them all), we leave the back door to our soul wide open for pride to slip in and give us an inflated view/opinion of ourselves, and a moralistic view of others who don’t do the things we do, or as well as we think WE do them.

And on the other hand, if it’s by our doing, we will eventually crumble under the pressure of never knowing if the good things we did were “good enough” and we can become hopeless, or worse, turn away from God because we think He is too demanding or is trying to ruin our “good time” here on Earth.

However, if we fix our eyes on the cross – and truly meditate on the fact that while we are so undeserving Jesus HAD to die for us, but yet so loved He was GLAD to die for us! – it will change us from the inside out.

Totally backward from the way I used to see it, and I have a sneaking suspicion that many still see it like that today.

And that is the very purpose behind “A Changing Grace” – it’s not that grace has ever changed or ever will, but instead, if we commit ourselves to focusing on the pure meaning of grace, IT will change us!

It’s not about the things we do or have done.

It’s ALL about the one thing He did for me and you!

I like to call it 180-degree thinking (you’ll come to see this is a pattern of thinking I do a lot).

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are consequences for our actions, but the point is, the ONLY way our proverbial slates can be wiped spotless is through Jesus.

So instead of trying to gain grace (which, by the way, is an oxymoron), if we let an overwhelming sense of gratitude for what Jesus has already done for us on the cross motivate us – I mean sincerely let it penetrate our hearts and become the porthole in which we see everything and everyone around us – that is when lives can be transformed.

By His power, not mine or yours.

Since this is my inaugural post on A Changing Grace, I would like to ask you to keep a few things in mind if you read any of my musings:

1. My intention to deliver a fresh, dynamic, relational and practical view of Christianity far outweighs my qualifications to do so.
2. However, I believe God can, and regularly does, work wonders through ordinary people (even people named Mike).
3. I promise (to try my best) to keep my posts to a “comfortable” reading length.
4. Because of that, please understand I will not be able to answer every question or issue about Christianity in any one given post. I personally couldn’t do that regardless of the length of my posts anyway.
5. And because of that, please view A Changing Grace as “a body of work” rather than singling any one post out as my entire theological stance.
6. I can almost guarantee someone will disagree with something I write, so please refer to No.1.
7. Lastly, I thank you in advance for reading any word I write.

Welcome to A Changing Grace,

Mike