Tuesday, 29 July 2008
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Back Off, SuperChristian, Jesus Got Here First
by mrs violet
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird. It's a plane. It's SuperChristian!You can, knock me down and call me Mike, but I am not one of those Christians that believe that the Christian life is going to make everything rosy or peachy keen.
I am not the type that believes you just gotta have more faith sista, coz you just ain't praying hard enough.
I've suffered from debt, grief, death, loss, injustice, hate, pain, disappointment, sorrow, sickness, hardship, depression, melancholy, disrespect, embarrassment and ridicule. I've been brushed off, mislead, spiritually abused rejected and lied to, just to name a few things.
Many of my friends and loved ones can relate. Can you?
Where did we get the idea to deceive people into believing that becoming a Christians makes everything A-ok Becoming a Christian does not spare you from the pain of life, it does not guarantee that nothing bad will ever happen to you, and that you will never be ill or poor.
You do not get to be faster than a speeding tithe collector and able to leap tall pews in a single bound.
So what does it mean? Just as God made Noah a promise in the form of a rainbow, we have a promise also.
We have the promise that is spoken about in Hebrews 4:14-16
It says:
We have a great high priest. He has gone up into the heavens. He is Jesus the Son of God. So let us hold firmly to what we say we believe. We have a high priest who can feel it when we are weak and hurting. We have a high priest who has been tempted in every way, just as we are. But he did not sin. So let us boldly approach the throne of grace. Then we will receive mercy. We will find grace to help us when we need it.
(Hebrews 4 NIRV)We are promised that when the going gets tough we can go to God, and Jesus our great high priest, who can fully empathize with our pain and suffering will provide us with the mercy and the grace to help us through.
SuperChristian, you can pack away your cape and stop wearing your underwear outside your clothes. Jesus got here first.
Do you ever feel like a "worse Christian" when things aren't going right?
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Comments (21)
Do you ever feel like a "worse Christian" when things aren't going right?
Yes but we have to realize as you said that Christianity comes with the realities of living life and not everything going perfect all the time. It's a big mistake to tell new Christians about how much God is going to bless them and make them happy without also telling them that they are going to have difficult trials they will go through.
I can relate. :) But, in general, I don't feel like a worse Christian when things aren't going well. It's tempting, but not worth the pity party.
Check out Amy Carmichael's If - It speaks so well to this. Here's the end...
"If I ask to be delivered from trial rather than for deliverance out of
it, to the praise of His glory; if I forget that the way of the Cross
leads to the Cross and not to a bank of flowers; if I regulate my life
on these lines, or even unconsciously my thinking, so that I am
surprised when the way is rough and think it strange, though the word
is, "Think it not strange," "Count it all joy,"
then I know nothing of Calvary love."
I don't feel like a worse christian when things aren't going right. But, I do need the encouragement from my brothers and sisters to keep on going strong or else I start falling into a self-inflicted downward spiral =/.
I've noticed how a lot of Christians exhibit symptoms of emotional abuse. This is in part caused by the person feeling that no matter what they do, they can never please God's impossible standards. They feel that when things are going bad, it's because they have fallen short, and God is punishing them.
I think the best thing Christians can do to prevent this is by reminding each other that what Jesus did at the cross is finished. There is nothing Christians need to do to make themselves "more saved". Instead, they should focus on giving each other love and support and understanding, helping each other through the hard times, even if a person has fallen away from the ideal path.
Jesus does give Christians a special source of comfort, a freed conscience, a new way of life, a new source of joy, etc. Having said that, we are also called to suffer for His name's sake. The Bible is full of examples of suffering. A lop-sided message that only focuses on warm fuzzys is seriously deficient.
Another serious error I have noticed by people of this same stripe, is a tendency to judge their spirituality by how much they "hear from God" in forms of dreams, visions, or other means. This is also a serious error and I feel sorry for those stuck in it.
I often feel like a bad christian when things aren't going right, especially when it's because of me being dumb. It just goes back to the performance mindset that you have to perform for closeness and favor with the Lord...we've trained ourselves to work for that which is already freely given to us.
I think a big reason that we feel the need to deceive people into thinking that being a Christian makes everything OK because:
1. we're posers because our faith isn't really working for us in our hearts, and this is because we have not connected with experiencing God's love. We get saved and get busy, and the busier we are, the more we neglect our hearts because we were made for love and relationship, not meetings. When we are used to busyness we become posers because we don't have love.
2. because we're posers, part of the performance mentality is winning souls. we do this because it shows our worth and value as christians to each other and, we think, to God. We have to pose so that we can be the used car salesmen of eternal salvation. we do this to justify that worth and value upon ourselves because we can't accept that God has worth and value for us just because that's what He does, He's a loving Abba Daddy. He loves His kids...but we don't believe it deep down in our hearts, and just the mental assertion that we think it's true doesn't translate into experience.
Good post, glad to hear that there's others who think like this too.
I often as late feel like that but not singular but as a group. I feel like we are fighting so much as Christians... Who in their Right Mind would see "love"? Many times there is so much judgment that they feel more love from non- lovers of Christ.
Sharing over coffee or over the fence does more good than any outreach or hell warnings, or scripture beatings I've seen.
I have a burning in my heart to see the dreams come true of mine from so long ago of Christians getting along as one, all wearing white, no tags no signs. One.. day...
Kris
I suppose we all should start with the "I" & get it right with God before we think about "they"...
TTYL
Wow, I can totally relate to your experiences. And I honestly believe that my faith is much stronger when I go through the trials in my life. I have said a lot recently, that I realized I am so blessed that we get to see God's hand in our lives much more than most and that is directly due to the "adventures" we face in life. So, I would never claim to be a super christian, but I am thankful for all the times He carries me through to a better place.
There is no such thing as a walk in the park or a run through a rose field when being a christian. People who think they get an instant get out of all my troubles free card when accepting Jesus are only in denial. There are those who are fanatics who base their walks with Christ on superficial over diluted misconceptions without getting deeper and learning to walk on their own.
i don't think "oh this must be happenig because God is punishing me." or "i'm not praying hard enough."
i just think there's a reason for everything and maybe i'm not supposed to know God's big plan...
so i guess bring on the bad things, too
I often feel bad about myself when things aren't going well. That's because I'm a slow learner. Ha. Everytime it's the same, but it still takes me a day or two to remember that wherever I am is where God wants me. He's working in me to make me someone who will bring glory to Him. Then I don't feel bad, I feel blessed that God would want to "tweak" someone like me.
I appreciate you're blog because it made me think.
Haha! That's just brilliant. I think i'm going to adopt 'super-Christian' into my daily vocabulary!
A necessary point, well put!
I think the occasional 'worse Chistian' mentality must be the experience of most Christians- certainly in the West. We're conditioned by a self-sufficient culture into thinking "grace" only kicks in once we've essentially earned God's favour!
We figure that when things go wrong that we must be doing something right arond here otherwise we wouldn't be worth the effort of messing with.
Praise God!
I use to think I had to put on this act around unsaved family and friends that everythign was honkey dorey. I thought that if they knew the truth which was that I was going through more saved than before I was saved that they would never want to go to God. But oneday they found out about a little bit of my struggle and were amazed by how I still went to church, paid my tithes and loved those that hurt me and said that they knew GOD had to be with me. From that moment on I realized that it's not what you do or go through that makes you a super christian but it's how you continue to stand after you've done all you can do.
Man's extremity is only God's opportunity.
I agree.
I can totally relate to what you are talking about!
I used to feel like a worse Christian when things were not going well, but I think that has changed. While I used to feel like I had to have a perfect life because I had Jesus, I now realize that is definitely not true. It is okay to have hard times. Jesus doesn't prevent me from experiencing pain, but He is definitely with me through every moment of it (whether or not I feel Him). Even this simple realization has allowed some of that "I must be doing something wrong" anxiety to dissipate from my spiritual life when things I have no control over go badly. He has even used some of the painful things to teach me things. "SuperChristian" isn't real, deep, or empathetic. RealChristians experience failure and pain, but the bad times can chase us deeper into a healthy relationship with our amazing High Priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses.
@Andrea_TheNerd@xanga - Very wise advice, and from one who doesn't accept this grace! I'm confounded!
I always try to remember that 1) Jesus promised that we WILL face persecution and tribulation, and we are blessed if we handle it in righteousness and 2) that I am not perfect, that's why I need Jesus. He is, and He will get me through whatever challenge or struggle I face.
"Jesus got here first" - I really like that!
The fuzzy wuzzy- no problems in life because of MY GREAT faith. is a big big lie. Christians that are like that are giving Glory to themselves and not to God. The big people in the O.T had some real big problems, had alot of sickness, had been poor, deeping on God for there daily portions. The N.T believers had been stoned, beheaded, talked about. They were poor and living in strangers home and going from place to place. And these people Knew Jesus himself! The superchristian is only a hero to themselves.
can you imagine if your total theological construct was "christian tv?"
In answer to your question, NO. in fact, the promise that He would never leave nor forsake us gives us the indication that something other than only health, wealth and prosperity may be ahead, but not to sweat it.
nope... i know that God is always there and i subconsciously cheer when i'm going through a rough time because i know it's a chance for me and God to be closer; it's a chance for me to witness his glory and majesty because He never fails to pull through for me and get me through it. i know i lack faith and i'm quick to disbelieve... but He's always always there anyway... and i'm content to leave it to Him.