I think it goes without saying what a broken world we live in. Lately it seems with each passing day, the world itself gets darker and darker. It seems harder and harder to find the light. Harder to continue to spread hope and love wherever we go. It becomes harder and harder to explain to others where God is and what His plan is in all this. It becomes harder and harder to let others know, God is still with us. He still loves us. Our own faith is getting harder and harder to sustain as the world pulls us in a million different directions. Relationships are getting tested more and more as the world tries to put wedges in between us. Oh how my heart aches and tears fill my eyes as I think about all this. I look at our two beautiful babies and think "God, how can we continue like this. What will these two beautiful souls see in their lifetime." Because the truth is this: The world is going to continue in the direction it is headed no matter how much we fight it because the bottom line is: This is not our home. We don't belong here. Nothing we can say or do is going to change the entire world's course. The course it is on is headed for destruction no matter how we fight it. The only piece of hope in that is that we all know how it ends. God wins.
That doesn't, however, mean that we don't continue to fight for souls that we can touch. That doesn't mean we stop showing the light whenever and wherever we can. That is our ultimate purpose isn't it? To win souls and hearts for Jesus? If that is the truth can I ask a very real, honest, gut-wrenching question? One that terrifies me at the core because I know I have been so guilty of it just as much as everyone else...
If we as Christians all have the same purpose here on earth; that is to win hearts and souls for Christ....why, oh why are we as Christians constantly trying to puff out our chests and try to prove how much more Christian we are than the next? The past few months have been awful when it comes to this. I can't even begin to tell you how much of it I have seen on Facebook. I know I am not excluded from this list because I have done it and had thoughts of it invade my mind just as much as anyone else. And yesterday afternoon, my heart broke with that reality....
Take just a month or so ago as a first example. Starbucks unveiled their new holiday season cup. And at first there were a few in the country that saw it as a war on Christmas. A guy even made a YouTube video of it stating his opinion. And it was just that an opinion. Whether you agreed or not, he never stated that if you didn't see it you weren't Christian enough. And yet what did thousands of non-Christians do as well as thousands of Christians? Mocked him and everyone else who has this opinion. The awful things that were said because of this small minority opinion where horrid. And then I also saw image after image being shared of images 'proving' that if you shared this belief you weren't as Christian as those who thought it was in fact a war on Christmas. For example, one said this: If coffee cups define your Christmas, honey its YOU who need Jesus. Why? Why do we need to be at war with other Christians? *For the record, I didn't really care about the cup. We don't support Starbucks for various reasons. But hey if you still go to Starbucks? That's fine. Whether you do or you don't isn't what makes you Christians. It's who's in your heart. Jesus.
And then the next example is something that has happened in the past week. Something that is awful to even be talking about. Something that shows even more what a hurt, broken and evil world we live in, simply because the fact that it is happening. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know all about what happened in Paris. You know that Syrian refugees are supposed to be coming to America. You know that there are those who are welcoming them with open arms, and you know there are those who are saying that we need to stop for a second and make sure we are properly 'vetting' them in order to keep our country safe. I know countless Christians on both sides of the argument. And in ways, I can see where BOTH sides are coming from. As a mother and a human being, my heart breaks for those who have to even have this be an option for their family. If I could and had the means to I would want to help them in any way possible. And yet, I do think we need to take a beat and go over all procedures again to make sure we aren't bringing what they are fleeing from here. If we do bring it here, we aren't saving them from anything. And I have friends and family here I love and want to keep safe. What I do not think is that one who believes one way over the other is any more of Christian than the next. We are called to love our neighbors, we are called to help the poor and needy but I don't think that just because a group of people want to ensure their safety first means they aren't Christian enough for Christ. I don't think we as Christians should be condemning people on either side. And what am I seeing on social media? Brother against brother, sister against sister, friends against friends. We knew the non-Christian world would be using any tactic necessarily to call Christians out. To make them look like hypocrites and to make them try to prove just how Christian they say they are. But I didn't expect to see so many Christians condemning other Christians for their beliefs. Once again we are trying to out do each other and puff out our chests. I've seen it on both sides of the argument. And it makes my heart break.
I'll be honest again by saying that I am just as much guilty as anyone else of these things. Of having those thoughts in my head as I read something. Thinking "Really you stand for that huh? I'm more Christian than that." It's an awful thing to admit about yourself. Trust me, I've been dealing with it myself. Sitting before God asking Him to cleanse my heart of such thoughts. I believe we are called to keep other Christians accountable. That is biblical. (Galatians 6:1-2) But I don't think when God said this He was referring to calling people out on social media. And keeping Christians accountable I do not think includes the examples above. Keeping one another accountable is doing it in a loving, respectful way. In a safe place where the person loves you and knows they can trust you. Trying to prove how much more Christian we are for having differing political beliefs is not the same thing. It is something the devil is gleaming about. He is loving what a divided Church we are becoming. The secular world is gloating and laughing about how divided we have become. How easy it is for us to turn on one another.
We all have the same purpose on this earth. To win hearts and souls for Christ. It gets harder and harder to do that in today's world. Especially when we are all turning against one another so easily. When we are constantly trying to prove that we are more Christian than another. There is no point to proving that to the world. The only opinion who matters is Jesus. And if you have Jesus in your heart and you love Him, that's all that matters. You are on the same playing field as us all. Let's keep each other accountable but not like this. Not at the expense of becoming a more divided church than we already are. This world needs us now more than ever. We need to RISE up and fight for Christ more than ever before. And in order to do that to the greatest glory that Christ deserves...we need to keep building each other up. We need to rise together...united...as one body...
**You will find this blog on Facebook, however, I have been called away from it for awhile again. My heart and soul need a cleanse of it. It's so easy to get caught up in all the negative and worldliness of what it is sometimes....therefore Travis and I decided to take a step back. Doesn't mean we are any better than those who are still on it ;) It just means God has called us to give it up for a time and therefore we want to be obedient to Him... We love you all more than you know and I will miss dearly seeing all that is going on with you guys and seeing your beautiful families....so please don't take offense if you don't get a notification saying that I 'liked' a photo. I will be back at some point...hopefully with a better heart and soul for Christ.
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