One of the things I was asked to address in this blog was 'Christian hypocrisy'. No single thing probably drives away more faith-curious people than a good dose of holier-than-thou, judgemental, misbehaving Christians.
Now I love Christians. I happen to be one. I was not always. I understand the tension between trying to overcome sin and being human. I even understand the temptation associated with overcoming a little sin and becoming judgemental. We just have trouble remembering how lost we really were and recognizing how lost we still are. I remember reading something the Good Lord said about blindness being a better condition than asserting we could see... (more on that later.)
Unfortunately, when you get on a high horse, people are forced to look up to you. And when people are forced to look up to somebody, they tend to get out their magnifying glasses and look for flaws. It's true whether you are Abraham Lincoln, or Brittany Spears. And nobody stands up to intense scrutiny very well. We are all just too, well, human.
We could learn an important lesson from ants. They are pretty humble creatures, work well together, and more are less are always cooked to a crisp by magnifying glasses. Ants stay pretty lowly...pretty humble. And that is a good place for a Christian to be:
“You know that the worldly leaders lord their position over one another. It is not to be this way among you. Whoever wishes to become great among you shall become like a servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be last like a slave; just as the Son of Man (Jesus) did not come to be served, but to serve..." -Jesus, Matthew 20:25-26
The first will be last, the last first. What social position do you claim?
Now I love Christians. I happen to be one. I was not always. I understand the tension between trying to overcome sin and being human. I even understand the temptation associated with overcoming a little sin and becoming judgemental. We just have trouble remembering how lost we really were and recognizing how lost we still are. I remember reading something the Good Lord said about blindness being a better condition than asserting we could see... (more on that later.)
Unfortunately, when you get on a high horse, people are forced to look up to you. And when people are forced to look up to somebody, they tend to get out their magnifying glasses and look for flaws. It's true whether you are Abraham Lincoln, or Brittany Spears. And nobody stands up to intense scrutiny very well. We are all just too, well, human.
We could learn an important lesson from ants. They are pretty humble creatures, work well together, and more are less are always cooked to a crisp by magnifying glasses. Ants stay pretty lowly...pretty humble. And that is a good place for a Christian to be:
“You know that the worldly leaders lord their position over one another. It is not to be this way among you. Whoever wishes to become great among you shall become like a servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be last like a slave; just as the Son of Man (Jesus) did not come to be served, but to serve..." -Jesus, Matthew 20:25-26
The first will be last, the last first. What social position do you claim?