The Jesus Blog. A word from Jesus to you…
I get it. I understand why you would want nothing to do with me and why you would feel so much pain when you even hear the word Christian.
I understand. And to be totally honest, I often feel the same way. So much of the church has become nothing like I intended.
Church is supposed to be a simple, intimate, wonderful, relationship-focused community helping those who are hurting. A community with a special heart for the oppressed and marginalized.
But too much of the church has become behavior-focused, law-focused, and judgmental — putting conditions on love and acceptance — a religious group of people who call themselves Christians and do things “in my name.”
But they have nothing to do with me.
They are like the religious people I came to stand against, the religious people who stood face-to-face with me and didn’t even recognize who I was. They did not, and they do not understand my truth or my heart.
I wish they would stop using my name as an excuse for not loving people and as an excuse to oppress and marginalize others.
I wish they would just love God, love others, focus on how they themselves are living – and stop playing God in the lives of other people.
I did not come to start a religion. I came to teach and show people what it means to love.
Many people know about me, but I am still one of the best-kept secrets because my truth has been grossly distorted by those who claim to speak for me.
When church is about community and connecting with God and each other, it is wonderful. But when church is about rules and behavior it is deadly.
The key is relationship.
So I get it, I understand why you feel the way you do. But let me encourage you to try and discover the real me.
The more you love others with unconditional acceptance, the more you help those who are oppressed and hurting, the more you will know the truth about me.
And the more you know the truth about me, the more you will love and live that way.
That is the truth that will set you free.
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