How Do Our Lives Reflect the Love of God?
I read a book last week entitled When Christians Get It Wrong. The book was written by Adam Hamilton, who is the senior pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas which is a suburb of Kansas City.
This church is one of the fastest-growing churches in the country and has been named the most influential mainline church in America by one particular religious publication.
The book had its origins in a conversation that Hamilton had with a 24-year-old man who for lack of a better term can be referred to as a non-believer.
{{more}}
The young man had just finished a six-year stint as an Army Ranger during which time he was deployed in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Hamilton’s conversation with the young man uncovered the fact that while the young man did not reject Jesus, what he in fact was rejecting was Christianity as he had observed it practiced by many Christians.
In his conversation with the young man Hamilton observed a “subtle undertone of anger” directed towards the views held by many Christians “that seemed out of sync with the God of love that Christianity preached.”
In his book Hamilton goes on to discuss the fact that surveys say many young adults are turning away from the Christian faith not because they disagree with its teaching or have theological issues with the tenants of Christianity, rather their primary problem with the Christian faith is the attitude of many Christians.
One survey showed that 87 percent of the young adults surveyed felt that Christians were judgmental while 85 percent found them hypocritical and 70 percent saw Christians as insensitive.
The results of this survey bring a few thoughts to mind for me. In many ways these numbers are not surprising. In over 20 years as a pastor I too have encountered a number of Christians who were judgmental, hypocritical and insensitive.
I have also met Christians who have cheated on their income tax returns, cheated on their spouses, told lies and removed tags from mattresses that say “do not remove under penalty of law.”
The truth is I have never met a perfect Christian; I have never encountered anyone who perfectly and ideally followed the example of Christ. The truth is every Christian sometimes gets it wrong. All the Christians that I have ever known were sinners in need of God’s grace. Needless to say I am including myself among that number.
However, I do understand the point the young people in this survey have made. There are times that some Christians seem to conduct themselves in ways that are contrary to the teachings of Christ. There are times that I am appalled and shocked by things that I see that are often done in the name of Christ.
Sadly the Christian faith at times has been used as a smokescreen for bigotry, intolerance, and hatred and this has brought harm to countless people. In my ministry I have encountered a number of folks who have been deeply and severely wounded by those professing the name of Christ.
Yet, not all Christians practice their faith in this way. As all of us are aware, the attacks on our country on September 11, 2001 were perpetuated by followers of the Islamic faith. Since that time, we have constantly heard how these extremist are not representative of all Muslims. I am quite certain that is true.
Likewise not all Christians practice their faith in ways that are judgmental, hypocritical and insensitive. There are Christians that practice their faith in ways that show the love of Christ in very real ways to a world that is starving to receive it.
The challenge that we face as followers of Jesus Christ is to live out our faith in such a way that we are a credit to the Christian faith. Jesus said it this way, “Let your light shine before people, so they can see the good things you do and praise your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 CEB)
Perhaps, the question that we should ask is simply this—do others see anything in my life that would make them want to follow Christ? May God help us to make that answer yes. May God forgive us if the answer is no.