Some people think that the point of the Christian faith is to learn how to be a ‘good person’ (whatever that means). In this way of looking at it, the more ‘religious’ you are and the more you pray and go to church, the ‘better’ you are and the more God will favor you.
This is so limited.
It leads to a life based on law, not gospel.
According to Scripture, God wrote the law/commandments on our hearts. In other words, God got out of the law game (like, forever ago) and handed it to us (see: the old covenant). Most of us have a conscience. There’s no need for everyone to become a Christian to establish justice and peace.
A faith that’s based simply on right vs. wrong is so petty and secular and it’s not the point of the Christian gospel (and honestly, if you think you’re ‘good’ just because you go to church and talk about Jesus a lot, you need to take a waaaay closer look in the existential mirror because we’re all ‘bad’ in various jacked up ways).
The Christian gospel is not, “Do better.” It’s, “Do you trust?”
Even in those moments when you mess up royally… Even in your darkest night when your oppressor has a boot on your neck… Do you trust that God STILL loves you and will not ever condemn you?
Can you accept your eternal acceptance even when the shit hits the fan?
Right vs. wrong makes logical sense. But accepting/extending love when we deem others/ourselves unlovable? That takes something other than common-sense legalistic thinking.
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This post was previously published on Jonas Ellison’s blog and is republished here with permission from the author.
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