Fool No More

Why do we spend so much time trying to hide who we really are? Furthermore, why is it that people are shamed and scorned for showing who they really are? I mean, come on. We're all human--that is to say, we're all incredibly flawed and screwed up. Nobody is greater than another. Yet pride, as the old saying goes, "goeth before a multitude of sins," especially among Christians. We easily take pride in our salvation but entirely for the wrong reasons. We should be proud to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ ("For I am not ashamed of the Gospel...") but instead we use that as a way to hide behind a wall and shout insults and hate at others. How many times have we encountered Christians who feel some form of superiority? Personally, more than I would EVER like to have encountered.

There was a time where I would have been embarrassed or hesitant to say that some Christians annoy me. However, I don't have that hesitation now. Some. Christians. annoy. me. Should it be that way? Absolutely not! How many times are we commanded in our Scripture to show love for our neighbor, as well as our brothers and sisters in Christ? I haven't actually sat down to count all of them, but I'm certain that it's rather substantial. One of the things I struggle most with is having love for those whom I may not see eye to eye with, those who have wronged me, or those who use their faith as a way to hide the fact they're assholes. (Yup, I said it. If you're more worried about the fact I wrote that word over how the Church is harming itself...we need to talk.)

I've been on the receiving end of my last point, and I can safely say it isn't pretty. The worst part is that in the eyes of these brothers and sisters, they've done nothing wrong. Apparently grace covers wrongs toward a brother or sister like a bad paint job--as far as they can see, the mistake is glossed over, so who should worry? To me, it's really not about the fact I was wrong. What worries me is the fact that Christians let malice, anger, hatred, and rage not just be an emotion but rather they allow it to take hold of their lives and let it dominate who they are. This leads to my next point:

And I'm supposed to just take that and accept it because they're a believer?


That's kind of a question with two answers. In a way, I'm supposed to take it unless their behavior requires correction from a brother. I'm not talking about correction in a self-righteous sense--I'm talking about correction by using the Word of God as our standard. It's incredibly clear to me that we are all sinners and have our own issues, but when we're wronged we're supposed to go to that brother or sister and let them know. As I touched on at the beginning, it should NOT be a pride issue. It should be out of genuine concern for our Church family and what their attitude is showing about their heart. Pride is an incredibly vicious cycle. We're too proud to admit when we're wrong, admit when we've wronged a person, admit that what somebody did hurt, or they hold on to it and use it against somebody--all for the sake of pride. 


The more I think about this, the more I begin to wonder--how do we live and move in Christ if we're clinging to pride? We don't let go so that we can let the healing of true Love begin. We let it run us. We use that pride as a crutch to hold us up so we can kick another while they're down. The thing is, we fail to realize that we're just as down as the one we're kicking. Funny how that works. Pride sucks. I wish I could say that I don't struggle with it, but I'm so glad that I'm free to struggle because of Jesus rather than not knowing Him and struggling to be free. Can you say the same?