I picked up a T-shirt at the thrift store. It says, “Jesus loves you… even if I don’t.” As you might imagine it gets a few smiles, comments, and a variety of reactions. Some immediately relate stating, “ Yeah, I like that… because it’s so true.”
Then there’s the folks who say, “What are you trying to say? That’s not very Christian!?” And I like to respond, “What do you mean? It doesn’t say I don’t love you. It just says even IF I don’t.”
But then the question comes to my mind. There’s a lot of folks that I find it hard to love —and hopefully I’m trying to allow God’s love to shine through me—-it’s just that what comes out of my mouth and my thoughts is not love many times.
Why is this?
Because we Christians are still a work in progress…and if we’re honest we still battle many bad attitudes and actions.
However, we’d still like to witness to our faith. So here we are proclaiming what we believe to be the truth—the absolute truth. And that truth is that Jesus loves you—-there’s no question about that. It’s the truth… no matter how I act or respond. We want that message to get out.
And I guess we want to get another message out. It’s the message that as hard as we Christians try to be so loving and sincere we just fall so short so much of the time.
What’s wrong with us? Why would we act so un-Christlike? Well, there are probably as many reasons as there are Christians. It’s just that we all have areas and attitudes that God is continually working on. In other words, we’re not perfect… yet? No, we will never be perfect. And that is why Jesus came to save us—-why his mercy, love and forgiveness—ought to be so evident in our lives. It’s like we’re saying, “Hey everyone—-I know that this Jesus is real, and that he cares about you, and I want you to know that. I truly am trying to love like Jesus wants me to ….but I’m sure not a perfect example for you to follow.”
So it boils down to the thought, “Hey I found the best thing in my life … and it’s Jesus! He asked me to spread that news, and I deliver his message… even I don’t act like you think I should.
And this brings me to another saying, “Jesus loves me…even if I don’t.”
So what am I saying here? I’m saying, “Hey folks, you know all those times I don’t really do the “completely” right thing. You know all those times I’ve looked down on myself… believing that I’ve failed God in so many ways.
“Well, you know what, that’s true,” the Lord might say. “You really have not led a ‘perfect’ life following and listening to me. Yes, you could have done better. But you know what? I still love you. I’m still reaching out to you. I still love and accept you. And I want you to know that…..beyond anything else you’ll ever discover about yourself. For I love you…even if you don’t.”
If this is the level of “Christianity” that JPUSA has fallen to, then shame. As long as Christians fall back on the work-in-progress crutch, there will be little perfection seen in the Body of Christ.
‘To the world is seems as though God were a mere silly yawner, with mouth always agape, or that he is a cuckold who allows another to lie with his wife and pretends that he doesn’t see it. But he will assail you, and takes such delight in this that, because of his jealousy and wrath, he is impelled to consume the wicked. Then we learn how God is a consuming, devouring fire. Will you sin now? Then he will devour you, for God is a fire that consumes, devours, rages; he will undo you, as a fire consumes a house and makes it dust and ashes.’ ~ Luther
A curious and somewhat obscure response to the rather light-hearted article Chris wrote…. but as for being a work in progress, we are in fact just that. All of us in the Body of Christ. If you claim not to be, yikes… watch out:
“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” –1 John 1:5-10 (NRSV)
Yes, it is easy to use the “work in progess” label as a fig leaf to hide habitually self-serving lives behind. But isn’t it also easy to do with the doctrine of Grace itself? I would hope we would correct the imbalance while maintaining the clear teachings of Scripture.
I am curious and obscure, John. But I haven’t agreed with JPUSA since I helped to spearhead the Christian Underground in the 80s and received a scathing note from some teacher there who told me that Punks didn’t use Black ghetto language and that if I was a real Punk, I would stop. *wow*
Look at the state of the Body, listen to Misty Edwards, STUDY OSWALD CHAMBERS UNTIL YOU WEEP AND CRY OUT, and stop this unnecessary flirting with at petty, social world out there.
No one here is saying he has never sinned, brotha man. What he is saying is that he can be sinless. There is no Church Militant. It is all Church Triumphant. Heaven is now, or never. And that IS Biblical.