06/19/2017
Do I believe in Christianity or do I believe in Jesus Christ? When we first come to faith we ask Jesus to come into our lives... where is our faith based today? Is it still in Jesus, or in the practice of Christianity? Let's take a few moments and consider our own lives and the faith we proclaim.
“When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."”
John 21:15 ESV
This morning I am sitting quietly in my mother's living room. I have traveled a great distance to be here and after a wonderful visit, I will return today to my home in Tennessee. I came to Virginia to celebrate her 92nd birthday with the rest of my family, but found that I needed to be here for various reasons... all of which had to do with loving her.
My mother, like myself, and my family, is flawed in many ways, but nonetheless, I love her, them, and myself. I overlook these things because they aren't who we are, but what we are dealing with in our lives, and what we have gone through. Jesus tells us something that at first blush seems contrary to one of the Ten Commandments when He says...
“"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14:26-27 ESV
Some read this in consternation, they ask themselves how He could say such a thing, but if you have ever looked at your own family, and each individual in detail, you suddenly come to the realization that there are flaws that they are dealing with... just as, if you are honest, there are flaws in yourself that must be dealt with. We are told to hate, but only those things that separate us from Jesus, and keep us from eradicating those faults in our own lives.
“"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
Exodus 20:12 ESV
We are told to honor our father and mother, we are told to love our neighbor, but then we are told to hate these things. It seems like we are placed in a quandary, but in fact we are being shown that our lives are complex collages of both good and evil, righteousness and sin, or holiness coupled with everyday humanity. This is our battle, and this is the struggle we find ourselves in when either loving or hating Christianity. Trying as we might to separate our love of Jesus Christ from the often flawed perception of how we should live for Him.
“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”
Romans 6:6 ESV
Jesus didn't ask us to do very many things, but He did ask us to follow Him, and He asked us to remember Him in communion... well you get the picture. Jesus loves us, and He loves the church, but He also hates certain things about us just as He has told us to do. I have spent the last four days with my family, and I have shown them my frailties, shortcomings and flaws... right alongside my faith and great victories. They have done the same with me, and I join with them as we detest our failures and sins while rejoicing in our faith and accomplishments. In the end, we love one another dearly, and can never separate ourselves from one another in that regard, but we also hate the flaws and will work to remove them from ourselves and our loved ones.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for family. I thank you for your Son Jesus Christ and the sins of mine that He bore. I know Father that in that moment, when He took on my flawed life, that you found hate for those things in Him. I am so unworthy, but in Him I see the love that is asked from each of us; we are led to love Him as you do... not in what He did each day of His life, but in who He is in His very core and heart. Holy Father, Jesus is my savior, my Lord, my Friend, and my Brother... He makes me family with Himself and you, and in as much He teaches me about the complex love and hate that a family is comprised of as it confronts sin and holds tight to righteousness. Father, never let me confuse my Christianity with the love I feel for my Brother Jesus Christ. Let my love transcend and defeat those things I am asked to hate. Keep my eyes affixed to Him and not the signage along the road we follow Him down.
Rich Forbes