I don’t know if this has ever happened to you. Maybe you grew up in a Christian family, and life had sort of been good and easy. But when you entered the ‘real life’, which means when you interact with people of different faiths (or perhaps, atheist!) , you found out that those people were good, kind and loving people. And one day, when you look back to friends from church, you feel those Christians are hypocrites who talk the talk but not walk the walk.
Then you are left with disappointment. You don’t feel like not being a Christian. You don’t want to be judged as a Christian anymore. But hey, don’t give up just yet!
For me, personally, it had been the case. And that is why I started this blog.
How We Fail Being Christian Among Non-Chrisitan Friends
I actually prefer talking to non-Christian friends, because they are more exciting and inspiring. And they are also more open in ideas. I often feel ‘judged’ by other Christian people (okay, older people in the church) so they would know if I am a good Christian or not. I really don’t like to be ‘confronted’, even though it could be just a friendly conversation out of love for them.
And my non-Christian friends wouldn’t care about that. And if you grew up in a Christian bubble, you’d experience how it could appear to be ‘easier’ to hang out with non-Chrsitan friends as you travel.
But it is a problem.
The problem is that you would feel torn apart. Your non-Christian friends’ core value would be different than yours. They might not believe in the judgment day. They might not believe in the existence of God. They might not pray. They might not read the Bible. They might have different opinions of same-sex marriage. They might be okay with having one-night stand or short romance. They might be okay with doing drugs. They might be okay with partying and ‘just messing around’. They might prefer to sleep on Sundays. They might swear really bad words. They might curse or curse with God’s name.
But, you would sort of know you are still a Christian and you shouldn’t be like them. And while there are minor things you don’t agree with your non-Christian friends, they still respect your faith and you mostly have good time together.
Until one day,
The religion topic is brought up. And someone shares twisted (could be real) view on Christianity, and someone shares a bad story about a stupid or crazy evangelical friend of his. And out of embarrassment you deny to be ‘that religious’.
And then,
To prove that you are not that religious, you start to do something that you wouldn’t do before. And maybe, this is the point you start to have doubts about your own God. To start it off, it’s not a convenient religion. And secondly, when you don’t see immediate ‘benefits’ of being a Christian, you forget about this ambiguous concept of ‘salvation’. And then if someone who used to be a Christian tell you why he stopped going to church, it just ‘proved your theory right’.
So, I don’t know if anyone told you this before. But, here’s the shocking news. It doesn’t matter what your opinion, or someone else’s is. The Bible tells us when the judgment day comes, you will be judged by Jesus, and according to Jesus’ standard, not yours.
You Stand Alone Before God’s Judgment Seat
I’d like to tell you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, that though I know it is hard, but you are responsible for your own faith. Your parents, or youth group leader, or pastor can fail. They may have weakness and in your eyes they can be hypocrites. But it will be God to judge them, and not you. And this God will be judging you, examining what you have done with your talent and time, and rewarding you accordingly.
You will not have a chance to say, ‘It’s xxx who made me give up my faith!‘. Even Adam tried to shift responsibility on Eve and God by saying it wasn’t him who had the idea of eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Sorry, it is a decision that you make solely on your own. Are you giving up your faith because you are selfish? Are you giving up on God because you are proud? It doesn’t matter if there are hypocrites in the church. Jesus told us not to learn from the Pharisees. God planted the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It has always been YOUR decision to make. You can choose with your freewill whether you want to continue fearing God and honoring God, even when it’s inconvenient. Churches have its failures, but God is never ‘not good enough’ for you. God is good, and God is enough! Jesus is too good. He is so good that he died for us, the sinners. When God is enough, it doesn’t matter what others are doing. It’s really between you and God. There’s no excuse.
And I’m sorry that being a Christian in the world sucks. But Jesus has told us the world hates us (John 15:19). If you are ready to be hated, you will make the right decision that is to stand firmed so that you will be saved (Mark 13:13).
You might say, ‘Oh God! How am I going to make any friend on my trip?’ Here’s what Jesus said,
Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man. (Luke 6:22)
I think Jesus meant what he said (really!) It’s expected that the world will hate you, exclude you and maybe insult you because of that Jesus you believe. It is a time God blesses you when people do that, and it’s not a time you run away from God and His blessing. It’s God grace that people feel drawn to you, and willing to open their hearts to you. And the Holy Spirit can do a lot of things, but God wants vessels and people to coworker with Him. If you are not there for God, then you are missing a great opportunity that God can reward you on the judgement day.
And just don’t go for the worst, that is listening to others when you could have made your own judgment and put your foot down on what’s the truth.
Be Radical!
We cannot select what is convenient and stay away from what is costly. (Edmund Chan)
It’s important to discover what your root is, and grow it. Radical also means ‘returning to the root’, as this word is derived from the latin word radix, which means root. So, where do you want to see yourself grow? Is it this world or the eternal world that we don’t see now? When you made that decision to follow Jesus and offer your life to God, then please remember that promise wherever you go.
Traveling Mega
