This Isn't Burger King

The Kingdom of God is not a Burger King, you can't have it your way. I feel like Christianity has become so watered down and convenient that it can be anything to anyone at anytime. You can't order grace and mercy with extra forgiveness and love hold the conviction and accountability. That is simply a recipe for disaster, yet it is what Christianity offers. The church has been conforming to the culture in an attempt to "remain relevant". The gospel doesn't need any help being relevant, the gospel stands all on its own. We can only hinder the gospel it is impossible to make it better or more relevant. 

If you walk into any Christian book store you will find a lot of self-help with a dash of scripture when it fits. Scripture is often used out of context to back up the methods and ideas of these self-help books. It's not all bad or all wrong, there are good biblical books out there. There are also good books to help people get through issues they have. We have to be cautious to see if the book is biblical and leads to Jesus being the ultimate answer. If the book gives you 12 ways to change in your own strength, that's great but it's not biblical. We should be doing nothing in our own strength. Especially in western culture we want the quick fix answer to everything, so if there is a book we can buy that will tell us how to fix our problems we will buy it. The funniest part is that there is one book like that that will answer everything else, we just don't like the answers it gives so we seek a second opinion, a more convenient answer.

I don't want to participate in convenience store Christianity. I am tired of trying to find a short cut to the answer I already know. I don't want to try and take the back roads instead of the path the Lord has laid out. I am guilty of trying to seek the quick and easy answer, the answer that doesn't crush my flesh, the answer that allows me to feel the greatest amount of results for the least amount of conviction and responsibility. Thank God that He forgives my desire to short-cut His plans, rob Him of His full glory, and satisfy my flesh. He is a good good God, He does give love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and salvation; He also despises sin, convicts us, and asks for obedience. It's a package deal, you don't get to take the parts of Christianity that you like and leave the hard parts behind. 

So, no, this is not Burger King, you can't have it your way, it will be His way and He will get all the glory in the end. 

Honesty is the Best Policy

Honesty is the best policy, even when it hurts, even when you look stupid, even when it means admitting you are wrong and asking for forgiveness. This is one of the characteristics that makes us more Christ-like, and not just believers in God but actual disciples of Him. We are not perfect, we are fallen sinners who are always going to make mistakes. When you are truly allowing more of Him to reside in you those mistakes will become less and less, more importantly you will recognize them and strive to correct them. As you become more like Christ it becomes easier to recognize things within you that don't agree with Him and His perfect nature.

I was in a situation where I made a pretty terrible mistake and hurt people because I was allowing my sin to control my behavior instead of Christ. As soon as I recognized the behavior as being sinful, wrong, and hurtful I needed to ask for forgiveness from the Lord and from the person that I hurt. I am not saying any of this to brag that I am a good person or that I should be respected for what I did. I am only encouraging fellow believers to step up and admit their faults and mistakes with humility and genuinely ask for forgiveness. 

It is so easy to justify and rationalize why our behavior is acceptable and even easier to justify and rationalize why we are not required to admit the fault and ask for forgiveness. I really wanted to talk myself out of confronting my sin and correcting it. Confronting this issue meant telling someone that didn't even know me that I had sinned against them, I actually had to hurt this person by telling them the truth of what I did and then ask for their forgiveness for the hurt I just caused. I was most upset with myself for misrepresenting Christ with my behavior than anything else. The best way to correct that is to admit my fault, be honest! If I can admit that I did something completely wrong and outside the character of Christ, then I can at least demonstrate His humility and love in the situation.

This is why Christians are labeled as hypocrites, because we are! We aren't hypocrites simply because we say one thing and do another, although that is part of it. We are mainly hypocrites because we preach one thing, do another, and condemn those around us for the very same behavior. It's amazing what happens when you can actually admit that you are hypocritical because you are imperfect. People don't expect perfection for the most part, they actually desire transparency and genuineness. People want to know that we are sinners just like them, and that we know that. The world wants to hear Christians ask for forgiveness and admit their faults because they want the truth. This is why Christianity is so unappealing, it is our misrepresentation of Christ, the gospel, and the character of God. It is because people see lying, hypocritical, sinners condemning the world around them for the very sins they themselves live in. If Christ wouldn't have acted the way you acted then tell someone that. Don't continue to perpetuate the impression of Christianity as a luke-warm, watered down, exclusive club of hypocrites. Instead ask for forgiveness, say that you misrepresented Christ, in that simple act you are now actually representing Christ and His character. 

So be honest, admit when you are wrong. Ask for someone's forgiveness when you treat them in an un-Christ-like way. Even when it means it hurts your pride, actually, especially when it hurts your pride. Don't let your mistake, your sin also be a misrepresentation of Christ. Let's get honest, transparent, and humble; strive to be more like Christ. Get uncomfortable, purge the sin response, love like Christ loves.

Honesty really is the best policy. Get real!

In Christ's Love,
Reed Eden