Showing posts with label legalistic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label legalistic. Show all posts

Saturday 28 October 2023

“You’re Not a Christian if…” Fill in the Blank.

This is not Tim Keller, just a guy. Lol

Tim Keller is my favorite preacher, but I have heard him say many times that a person is not a Christian if he thinks, says or does… fill in the blank. This has always upset me but I overlooked it because everything else in his preaching is so deep, helpful and meaningful.

I heard him say it again last week. I listen to his old sermons on podcasts. Finally, I thought I should write my opinion on this. It’s just my opinion that I have come to through 53 years of being a believer in Jesus.

I was raised in a strict, evangelical, Bible believing religion. When I became a Christian at 19 years-old I thought the same way as Dr. Keller. If someone was smoking, drinking, partying etc. then they weren’t a Christian. They didn’t have a relationship with God. I was legalistic and judgmental.

I was also super critical of myself and felt guilty over the least little think I did wrong. I thought I could be perfectly like Jesus, but this didn’t happen. I was changed, the Lord changed me so much in wonderful ways, but I still felt hounded by guilt. I think it was because my church was horrified by any sin and never told us that if we messed up, which we would all the time, we were still okay with God and he would forgive us over and over.

It took years for me to understand the grace and forgiveness of God. I love how Jesus said, “If someone sins against you 7 times in one day and asks you to forgive, you must forgive him.” Well, God must feel the same about us and our sins.

One thing someone might say, “If you don’t love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself, then you are not a Christian.” I don’t believe that. I believe this is something to strive for through prayer. I myself have been through times when I have hated God, gotten mad at him, or questioned his goodness. I have doubts and fears all the time, yet I know I am a Christian.

Loving God is complicated. We think of love as a feeling, whereas it is an action or principle. I have had feelings of love and admiration for God many times, but this comes and goes. I want to love everyone as myself, but I don’t always do it. I pray for this teaching of Jesus to be in my heart every day and I should trust he can do it.

I know a Christian who hates people, so she says, yet she has done so much good for people she has met, people she doesn’t even know. She has been hurt by people since her childhood, so she has no trust. But the Bible says even Jesus didn’t trust people because he knew what was in their hearts.

Does she feel love for God, no, but she believes he is the God of the Universe and is all good. She says she never wants to make a decision without asking him because she has learned how she messes things up, but God doesn’t.

I think loving God and all people is something we must learn all our lives. It’s a long process called Sanctification. It is like Jesus said about our spiritual growth, “The earth produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head [of grain], then the mature grain in the head.  Mark 4:28 Crops don’t spring up overnight and we don’t become like Jesus overnight. We have a lot to learn.

I think I’ve learned more about God in the last ten years since I retired from babysitting my grandchildren. I had a lot of time to myself. God showed me some things about myself I didn’t know and wasn’t happy about. He also showed me how he is enough for me. I don’t need anyone or anything more than him. It’s not that it’s been all roses. I’ve gone through long illnesses and another death in my family. Also, recently some conflicts with my daughters that were not pleasant and I got angry and sinned against them by yelling. Didn’t know I had that in me either, to tell the truth. The Lord showed me my sin and I asked for forgiveness, but I’ll tell you I didn’t think it was that bad for two days! Yes, at 73 I am still a sinner for sure, yet Jesus loves me just as I am.

I remember when my mom lived with me, I could see God was teaching her things even though she was in her nineties! I thought, “Man, he never stops!” When she was in rehab for her hip operation, she was acting terrible, threatening people and refusing treatment. I was afraid she “wasn’t a real Christian” and would be lost. But God spoke to one of my daughters and said to her, “Call your mother now and tell her, her mother is going to be saved.” So, she did. She also said, “God sure is loud!” Lol Yes, I guess he can be sometimes. See, I was judging my mother while God was accepting and loving her.

There are many verses in the Bible that tell us we are saved, not by our works, but by our faith in Jesus’ death for us. I know in many churches, including my old one, you can’t get baptized until you stop sinning and sign a paper promising to keep all the teachings of the church. In the Bible, people were baptized right away. All they had to do is believe. We are so far away from that simple faith, and maybe some of the books of the New Testament even sound like we have to be so perfect. I don’t know, I just want to believe the simple things Jesus taught and not worry about my salvation and judge other people about their salvation. Jesus said we will know if teachers of the gospel are good by their fruits. I’m going to list the fruits of the Holy Spirit. These are words of love we should aspire to.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Galatians 5:22-23, NIV