Thursday, July 22, 2010

I'm sick of girls (or guys) who have tattoos of scripture on their body, but their facebook pictures show them blatantly being drunken party sluts, or being crude and ill-mannered. It doesn't match up. It's almost like a fake ID. You have your obvious signs to show you are a "christian", and that you "love God", and yet you know absolutely nothing about Christianity or loving God.

We have this idea that in order to be a good christian and supposedly reach others, we have to act like the world to blend in. It's okay to be a christian and cuss, and be drunkards, and have sex, and watch raunchy things on tv, and fill our minds with crap. It's okay to be a christian and talk trash about our coworkers, or tell gossip we don't know. We have this mindset of, "Nobody's perfect! We all have flaws! I can't be uptight and still reach people! I need to blend into the world in order to change the world!"

What?!!??? Oh, because that's what Jesus did, right?... yeeaaaahhhh...

DO NOT BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD, BUT CONTINUALLY BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MINDS, SO THAT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO DETERMINE WHAT GOD'S WILL IS- WHAT IS PROPER, PLEASING, AND PERFECT. (romans 12:2, isv)

Nobody knows what it means to be a Christian anymore. Nobody realizes why we are here. Nobody realizes the power we have through Christ, through the Holy Spirit. I know every day we are beat down by the continual influence and pressure from our peers, but we have to stay strong. We can't be flaunting any fake ID's. The only ID we should have is "what you see is what you get". Let's not put on a front as if we are better than we are. "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment." (Romans 12:3, niv)
I'm not saying it's bad to have scripture tattooed on you, but if you're going to make that step, let's hope you're ready to live out the advertising you're putting out there for the world to see, because hypocritical Christians are what makes the world hate Jesus.

I am not perfect. At all. Neither are you. We are all crappy people. We obviously have talked trash, we've done things we could be ashamed of. We've done things we ARE ashamed of. But if we want things to be better, if we want the world to believe we are truly Christians and believe in a beautiful, loving, powerful & forgiving Christ, than we have to be in a constant state of movement. Movement towards what is right. If you're sick of being a crappy Christian, or ready to live up to the image you put out to the world, I challenge you to try to change. I'm not talking about that "maybe I'll read a psalms a day to make me feel better" kind of change. I'm talking about seeking, praying, holding your tongue, reaching out a hand, softening your heart kind of change. The kind of change that other people can see. The kind of change that makes change.

step. it. up. (and quit being a party slut.)