But Please Don’t Let Us Be the Reason You Miss Jesus
Someone I love doesn’t have much use for Christians right now.
And honestly, I understand why.
They’ve seen what a lot of people have seen. Christians who judge before they listen. People who preach one thing on Sunday and live something different the rest of the week. Some seem more interested in proving someone wrong than showing them love. Others are quick to point out everybody else’s failures and painfully slow to examine their own.
I’ve listened to the reasons. I’ve heard the frustration. And more often than I’d like to admit, I’ve found myself agreeing.
Because I’ve seen it too.
And some days, I’ve been it.
I’m Not the Example You’re Looking For
I’m an imperfect Christian every single day. Some days I know it. Other days, I don’t even notice.
Following Jesus doesn’t erase every bad attitude, every short temper, every selfish thought, or every weakness we’ve carried for years.
I wish it worked that way.
Try keeping your cool when you’re stressed, tired, and carrying more than you can handle. Try making sure a bad day never spills onto the people around you.
I haven’t always managed it.
My wife has taken my frustration when she didn’t deserve it. So have my kids and friends.
I’ve spoken too quickly and let stress change my attitude. There have been times when I reacted instead of stopping to think, pray, or simply walk away until I cooled down.
I wrote about one of those moments in Why Is It So Hard to Be a Christian?
It wasn’t the only one.
And every time, it breaks my heart almost immediately.
I know the person in front of me wasn’t the real problem. What came out of me didn’t look like Jesus, and I know I let it happen.
There’s no excuse for those moments.
I’ve made bad choices. I’ve hurt people I love, and the people closest to me have watched me do it.
So if you’ve looked at Christians and thought, “They don’t live what they preach,” I’m not going to argue with you.
I’m part of the evidence.
Jesus Saw It Too
Here’s something that may surprise anyone who’s been frustrated with Christians.
Jesus wasn’t impressed by religious hypocrisy either.
In Matthew 23, He spoke directly to religious leaders who taught one thing and lived another.
They piled heavy burdens on everyone else and wouldn’t lift a finger to help carry them. Looking righteous mattered more to them than living with humility, mercy, and integrity.
I’ve wrestled with that same problem before in The World Doesn’t Need More Sunday Christians, because what we claim on Sunday means very little if nobody can see it in us on Monday.
Jesus saw religious hypocrisy and called it out.
He didn’t excuse it.
And neither should we.
Christians Aren’t Christ
Only one person has ever walked this earth without sin.
His name is Jesus.
Everybody else falls short. Every pastor, every church member, every Christian writer, and every person with a Bible verse in their social media bio.
Me included.
Romans 3:23 says everyone has sinned and falls short of God’s glorious standard.
Nobody is left out of that sentence.
Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, never acted like following Jesus meant he’d outgrown his need for grace. In 1 Timothy 1:15, he wrote that Christ came into the world to save sinners, “and I am the worst of them all.”
And Jesus said He came for exactly those people.
“Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.”
That’s Matthew 9:12.
A Christian isn’t somebody who became better than everybody else.
A Christian is somebody who finally admitted they needed saving.
Someone who needed grace and still does.
That’s something Brian wrote about powerfully in Jesus Is for Losers. Christianity isn’t about proving we’re better than the person beside us. It’s about admitting that every one of us needs a Savior.
The problem isn’t that Christians are imperfect. Everybody is imperfect.
The problem is when Christians pretend they’re not.
“Nobody’s Perfect” Isn’t a Free Pass
This part is for me as much as anybody.
Maybe more.
“Nobody’s perfect” is true. But it isn’t a permission slip to act however we want.
If we carry the name of Christ, our lives should increasingly point toward Him.
Not perfection.
Direction.
More patience than last year. Quicker apologies. Less pride. Better listening. More willingness to admit when we’re wrong.
James 1:19 tells us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
I still get that order mixed up.
People are watching how we live long before they care what we believe.
They notice how we treat our spouses, how we speak to our children, and how we respond to people who disagree with us.
And sometimes the greatest testimony isn’t how we act when everything goes right.
It’s how we respond when we’ve gotten something wrong.
That should humble every Christian.
It humbles me.
Come and See
So what would I say to someone I love who isn’t sure what to think about Christianity anymore?
I wouldn’t start with an argument.
I’m not interested in winning one.
Early in John’s Gospel, a man named Nathanael hears about Jesus and is skeptical right away.
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
His friend Philip didn’t debate him or give him a lecture.
He simply said, “Come and see for yourself.”
That’s John 1:46.
I love that.
Because that’s really all I’m asking.
Don’t make your decision about Jesus based on me.
Or a pastor, a church, the loudest Christian on Facebook, or somebody who treated you badly while claiming to represent Him.
Look at Jesus for yourself.
Read the Gospel of John.
No pressure.
Nobody standing over your shoulder.
Nobody waiting to argue.
Watch how He treats the outsider and the broken.
See what He does with people who failed Him. Peter denied even knowing Jesus three times, and Jesus still restored him. I wrote more about that kind of grace in Jesus Doesn’t Forgive You From a Distance.
Pay attention to the people everyone else was ready to condemn, and notice how differently Jesus treated them.
Then look at how He handled religious hypocrisy too.
After that, decide for yourself what you think of Him.
Not what you think of Christians.
What you think of Jesus.
He’s Patient. I’m Learning to Be.
I’m not going anywhere.
I won’t give up on the people I love, and I’m not going to force anybody toward Jesus.
Faith doesn’t work when somebody tries to shove it into your hands.
I’ll keep trying to live what I say I believe.
Sometimes I’ll still fall short, and when I do, I’ll apologize.
Most of all, I’ll keep asking God to change the parts of me that still don’t look enough like Him.
If you watch my life closely enough, eventually you’re going to see something disappointing.
I’m not proud of that.
It’s just the truth.
So please don’t let my worst day decide what you think about Jesus.
You may have met a bad Christian.
You haven’t met a bad Jesus.
