It's A Mistake

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners ?"  But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. "But go and learn what this means : 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."  Matthew 9:11-13

With only a couple of weeks into this new year and I have made my first big mistake at work of 2013.  I am certainly not proud or boasting here, just accepting the fact that I am only human and do make mistakes; in fact, I make a lot of them.

One of the most common misconception about Christians in that all believers should be perfect.  Many of us go to extremes to pretend that we have every facet of our lives in order, but the truth is that while we are all forgiven, we all  still have many shortcomings.

Salvation through Christ doesn't change the fact that sin is still present in our lives.  When we become believers, God forgives us and sees as righteous.  We must continue to renew ourselves and fight the ongoing battle against sin while we are on this earth.

We must be careful not to put up a facade and cover up our shortcomings so that we appear to be “good Christians” to the outside world.  Instead, we must recognize and confess to God, our sinfulness, so that we can be forgiven when we do screw up and fall short of his glory.

Shine

Teach what is fitting and becoming to sound (wholesome) doctrine, the character and right living that identify true Christians.  Titus 2:1

For quite some time, I had it all wrong about what being a Christian is all about.  Early on in my walk of faith, I thought it was more about 'doing' than 'being.'

If you read your Bible, the people God anoints are normal, everyday people, just like you and me, to live supernaturally in this fallen world.  He don't just want us to hear His Word, but He wants us to be doers of the Word. 

Collectively as the body of Believers, we need to stop just telling people that Jesus loves them and instead love people into a relationship with Christ.  The best way to show people the love of Christ is by the example we live our lives by; we need to get out there in this dark world and shine brightly.

We can all be a shining example of Christ and I am convinced that people want to see Christians living out what they preach and teach.