Christians and Their Sins
There are many people who have decided that Christianity is not for them because they have watched the people who call themselves Christians fail and screw up time and time again. They think to themselves, “Why would I want to be one of them when they are no different than the world?”
Here’s the deal when it comes to people in general:
1- Every single human is a sinner
2- Every single human has issues and problems that result from the sin nature.
3- Some people decide to work on perfecting the issues and behaviors (christians AND non-christians can work on behavioral issues)
4- No matter how much we work on our issues we will NEVER be perfect humans. We will always have sin as long as we live in a fallen world.
Here’s the deal when it comes to Christians...like the real ones who have made a decision to follow Christ:
1- We recognize we are sinners
2- We understand that sin is not allowed in heaven
3- We understand and accept the fact that Jesus took the punishment for our imperfections. He paid the price for our sins so we could have the opportunity to live for all eternity with Him in heaven.
4- We realize that our “good works” don’t get us into heaven. Why? Because even though we may have a list of “good works” we also have a list of human imperfections that keep us out of heaven. (Remember, sin cannot be in heaven.)
5- We understand that since Jesus paid the price for our sins, we can CHOOSE to accept His gift. It’s called “salvation.”
6- When we accept Jesus into our lives, He seals us with the Holy Spirit. From that point, when God looks at us, He sees the seal that is on us. Our sin debt has been taken care of and we are forever His.
7- We know that our eyes need to be on JESUS and not humans. We try to help others look to Jesus, not the works of man.
8- We understand that even though a Christian (or any person for that matter) screws up from time to time, Jesus NEVER SINS! He NEVER screws up or fails. He is our only hope and our only example of perfection.
9- JESUS is our hope...not the people in our lives. Jesus is our Savior, not our parents, pastors, deacons, or elders, or church goers.
10- We understand that if ANYTHING good and Godly comes from our lives it’s because Jesus works in us by the presence of Holy Spirit.
11- A true follower of Christ will want to help others turn their attention and affection to CHRIST....not ourselves....or our church, or Bible studies, or church activities. Church activities are great and all, but our eyes have to be on JESUS! He’s the One Who is perfect, not people.
12- We go to church because we are just happy to be with others who have accepted the gift of RESCUE!!! Jesus rescued us from the punishment of our sins. We learn together and grow together. We help each other with the issues of life and love each other as Christ loved us. We read the Bible and pray to God and apply it all to our lives because we know God’s way is better and it’s better for us to live and do life with other Christians who are following Jesus.
13- God WILL change us from the inside out. We will start bearing good fruit in our lives and He will clean up our messes. But the attention should never be on our levels of “holiness or perfections” rather it should be on the One Who is living on the inside of us helping us to live like Him.
If you have been looking at people who call themselves “Christians” and you have formed your opinion based on THEM and their negative behaviors then you’re forming your decision based on the wrong things. Our decision has to be based on Jesus and what He did for all mankind. We get to choose though....we have to make the choice to follow Him. He doesn’t force it on us.
Our decision comes down to what will we do about HIM? Will we follow Him? Accept Him? Choose Him? Our decision is all about Jesus and whether we will accept His gift of salvation. That choice determines our eternity and where we will spend it.
