Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Follow Jesus And No On Else

"He replied, 'Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.'" -- Matthew 15:13-14

Another study reporting yet another decline in Christians who actually know what being a Christian is and act on that faith. And yet another round of criticism aimed at the "feel good" mentality of some who no longer feel welcomed by mainstream churches

It's so easy to criticize others because they refuse to join your club. Jesus was an outsider. We tend to forget that sometimes. He challenged all the religious leaders during His time on earth. He threw out the money changers. He forgave sinners. He healed on the Sabbath. He did God's will -- regardless of what those religious leaders claimed.

So now we've got religious leaders blaming the downturn in practicing Christians on others. They claim we're too lax. There's nothing lax about John 3:16. Either you believe or you don't. Either you're looking to Jesus for salvation or you're heading to hell.

The rest are just rules created by men. Like the so-called dress code. The Bible doesn't have a dress code for people who attend worship services. Unless, of course, you're talking about a heart code. God wants us to come to Him and worship Him with a heart filled with love for Him. He's really not checking to see if you're wearing a suit or jeans.

The Bible also doesn't say that certain music is better than other music. Everyone has their own opinions. Again, God cares about our hearts. He wants us to worship Him with gladness and to honor Him with our voices. Whether it's contemporary or traditional doesn't matter.

Jesus welcomes all of us. He doesn't exclude those who are single or divorced, those who are childless or of a different color. Jesus doesn't check your bank balance or require a good address. He cares, once again, about your heart. But people who attend churches sometimes care about those other things. They sometimes cause others to feel excluded and unwelcome because they are different.

I understand we can't have a Sunday school class for every type of person. And, for smaller churches, it's really not practical to have both contemporary and traditional services. But when people feel unwelcome in God's House because of our rules, we need to reevaluate ourselves. We're pushing people away from God, not drawing them toward Him. It's easy to point fingers. It's far more difficult to look in the mirror and recognize that part of the reason people are pulling away from Christianity is because of the Christians they see.