Who Do We Christians Think We Are?
Posted By Jacque on June 24, 2008
“Forgive me Lord, for my pride, and my arrogance. For doing things my way. For demanding things my way. For not knowing your Word well enough that I know your character and your plan for my life. For knowing your plan and your Words and still not doing it. Forgive me, Lord, though I do not deserve it. In Jesus’ Name.“
Oh Lord, who do we think we are? Who do I think I am?
A friend of mine who is engaged to be married this summer told me last week that she is pregnant. My heart was elated for her at the thought of a new baby, but grieved for her knowing she is a Blood-bought Believer in Christ, and she knows the Word and chose to sin anyway. She was worried I would be mad at her, and I am not. I mean, who am I to be mad at someone for their sin? It is not a sin against me.
On the other hand, I guess it is. I guess it is a sin against the entire Body of Christ. But, it is not for me to be mad at her about. It is not for me to judge. I have enough on my plate with my on sin. But I understand her concern.
A few minutes ago, she IMed Jocelyn to let me know (I was offline) that she needs prayer, because she and her fiance are at odds right now, and their marriage is in jeopardy.
Uh.
Huh?
Did you just have the same stunned silence I did? The same gut-wrenching grief that I am feeling even now?
That feeling is what led me to the prayer above. HOW in the world do we expect to live? WHO in the world do we think we are? I truly hope that they settle their differences and a true repentance and forgiveness is expressed, but are their no longer consequences and spiritual laws for us Believers in our minds?
We ignore God’s Word. We treat each other like garbage. We spread lies and rumors about sisters and brothers in Christ and hold ourselves in the highest esteem, while we ask God to bless us and provide for our needs. We hope He dare not expose *our* sin to others, just the sins of those who are sinning against us.
What Pride!
What Arrogance!!
Who are we in the face of a Holy God?
Do we really think it is ok to take this Liberty so far? Do we really think it is ok to trample on the Blood that was shed to set us free from our sins? Are we so important?
There is a family whose little girl, age 12, is lying in a hospital bed, and they don’t know if she will ever wake up. Their whole world shattered in an instant. Our friends, the Lirette’s, experienced that same earth-shattering moment on Mother’s Day, just a month ago. They are now facing a future of living without a beloved daddy and husband, providing for themselves. They are trusting the Lord, but it is hard. How will she pay her gas bill? Who will fix her tire? I know of other homeschool moms who have experienced the same grief in the past year. It aches with every breath. Similarly, I know several who have miscarried in the past year or lost a child. Their hearts are broken, people. And we live our own little lives, excusing our sins.
I am utterly astonished. At myself too. I get so mad about inconsequential things. I want things done a certain way. And, I have to ask myself, “Who am I?“.
I don’t know if my friend will read this post or not. I don’t think she has time to read blogs anymore right now. I know that none of my friends will know her from this post anyway, and if she does read it, I want her to know that I am still not mad. Sin is Sin. Period. We give sins levels because we are human, and we do not understand holiness. We want to relate every sin to our own lives. If it affects us, it is a graver sin than any other. Hogwash.
Why am I posting this? Because, right now, I am caught. I am caught between anger and grief for my friend. I am caught between grief and anger for the Body of Christ. I am caught between anger and grief for the Christian bloggers I have watched lie, connive, manipulate and abuse others unbeknownst to their readers. I am grieved that these Christians see no error in their own ways or reasons to repent, and therefore there is no humility on their part. I have seen as they have held their sin in the face of the humble Christians with whom they are at odds and blame them for their sin. It is a disgrace.
I am grieved that we are God’s people and we look a lot like the world. I am grieved for all of the lost who will go to hell because they see our hypocrisy and run from our religion or don’t hear the Gospel because we are so busy planning, plotting and being popular.
Or maybe it’s all just because I have had to tell children to do things at least twice all morning, and I see a great resemblance between their disobedience and my own. And the Church’s. And my friend’s.
I am hurting for her. I am wondering what is going through her mind. I am praying she will repent, and God will heal her broken heart and set their relationship right.
I am broken for my own sin. My own sins against a Holy God and merciful Saviour. Oh dear Lord, forgive me. As David cried, “Change my heart Oh God, and create a right spirit in me!”.
When the sheep and the goats are separated, I want to stay.
I do not want to hear, “depart from me; you knew me and used my name, but you are not mine.”
Everything else will pass away, but the Word of God will not pass away.
Let us walk circumspectly.
blessings!
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17 Responses to “Who Do We Christians Think We Are?”
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AMEN Mama! I really have nothing else to add to this besides AMEN! Thank you for sharing your heart!
Love ya!
Amanda
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Thanks also, for letting us know to pray for these friends!
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Wow, this post really convicted me. You are so right.
It is easy for me to look at others and their sin and think good about myself—when in reality my pride is just as bad and ugly in God’s eyes. Lord forgive and humble me!
~~Brooke
brookes last blog post..Birthday shout out to a good friend
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I know I should say something more profound, but all I can say is WOW. And May God humble MY heart.
Christinas last blog post..Sweet Sixteen!
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Sorry to say that this post is so true. We rationalize our own sins but hold everyone else to a higher standard. Lord, help me to know and live Your Word and walk in Your forgiveness.
Mom
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So right on Sweetheart. I am having a hard time coping with life these days. Not the world, it’s going to be what it is. I am concerned for the Bride of Christ. We have got to hold each other up and pray one for another.
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Hi Mrs. Dixon,
This is a post that any time it was posted, and any way it was said would still be applicable to anyone, and touch someone. Right now, this post has touched me. I have a problem with rating my sins, and the sins of others. How utterly impossible it is to truly humble ourselves. How utterly awe-inspiring it is that the Lord is the one who can humble us and bring us to Him.
Thank you for posting!
Have a very bright, very cheerful day!
Miss Eyebright
Miss Eyebrights last blog post..My Tribute to My Daddy
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That is one of those Amen or OH ME….well probably BOTH! What is really an awesome thought for me is that we are so much alike and well have always been on a similar playing field. I was going to put some of the same words in my post “May the Lord find Us Faithful” concerning our sin and how we think we are so much better because our sin is hidden….but God is omnicient……HE SEES IT ALL…..I’m so glad He does….then when I tell Him how rotten I’ve been …it’s not really a shock to Him
I love you sis; I love the Lord. Thanks for the post….Great looking site too
Jen
Jens last blog post..Lord May You find us Faithful – Psalm 53
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Well said…heartbreakingly said. If anyone doesn’t recognize themselves in everything you said, they are lying to themselves.
I’m wondering at the age of your friend…it seems to me that a portion of the teens and 20-somethings who are professing Christians find themselves living with a love for the Lord – but – are standing ankle deep in the very dangerous pond of the world. They are trying to live some sort of moral limbo. JUST THIS YEAR 3 couples of our 20yodd’s friends (2 from our own church!) have become pregnant. It is staggering. One couple just got married 2 weekends ago (she’s almost 4 months along), one couple are trying to decide whether they love each other enough to get married or will adopt out the baby (she’s 5 months along) and one couple has ALREADY moved in together and will marry after the baby gets here in August.
I have to be honest here and say that even though my heart goes out to these young people, it frightens me. One of these couples, in particular, profess to be Christians but see nothing wrong w/the way they are living…it’s just sort of hiccup in their plans. My dd’s are trying to be good witnesses to these couples, but my whole family is finding it hard to love and support them, but at the same time, we DO NOT want to appear approving (although 2 couples are utterly repentant and have drawn closer to the Lord through this). There are times when I’m afraid that THEY might not see the difference.
My prayer is that our dd’s are storing all of this in their hearts and seeing for themselves the hardship and the hard lessons learned – no matter how their friends might try to “romaniticize” it – and see and understand that the Lord’s ways are just and true. That what ‘the world’ sees as God’s ways being a lists of ‘don’t’s’, our dd’s will see God’s ways as a protective hedge that will give you blessing and freedom INSIDE the hedge. That stepping outside of God’s hedge of protection ALWAYS leads to grief and hardship…no matter what the sin.
They have walking, talking, living, breathing examples of the consequences of the arrogance of sin…even in anyone, any of us, that they love. My prayer is that while they are watching others learn the hard way that they will not only store those lessons up in their hearts, but that they will be compassionate and forgiving.
Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<
Kim Wolfs last blog post..Critic Claims: "Homeschoolers are Only Good for Cleanig Toilets"
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This is a very timely article for me. A young woman who was pregnant when I was with Elijah went before the church and confessed her sin. She had a little boy about a week after I had Elijah early. Well, I just found out she is pregnant again, and she told me she put herself in a bad situation and was asulted, but she’s glad in a way she isn’t married because often a married mom feels like a single mom anyway!!!
I didn’t know what to say, except to say that I can’t imagine doing what I do AND providing fiancially.
Then the next day, I find out a homeschooled, childhood friend of mine who married April 19th just had her marriage “annuled”. Like it never happened. She has her maiden name and her Facebook status says she’s intrested in “men”.
I’m so broken. This is two blows in one week and I’m just crumbling beneath it. Both these girls know so much better. I know the man that counseled and married the one couple and . . . and I’m just speechless in the face of so much sin and pain and willfullness.
May God show me how and when to respond in the coming days …..
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Ashley- I will be praying for you so that you do know how to respond. It is a difficult situation to be in, and I believe God gives us the conviction and the answers at just the right times.
I will also be praying for your friends. We DO put ourselves in these positions a lot of times, and if we really *knew* the Word, we wouldn’t blow them off so lightly.
God help us.
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Hi Kim-
Thanks for your comment. I am sure many of us know many like you do. And, we feel the same way…. “What do I do? How do I react?”.
Well, my friend is actually 40-something. I think the key here is that we Believers KNOW BETTER.
And, my friend did read my post. She imed me last night, so I went ahead and told her I blogged it. She cried. She was convicted. She said she was going to print it off and show it to her fiance. I am so very glad, because that was my intent in writing this… that we ALL look at ourselves.
We ARE kidding ourselves. Deceiving ourselves.
Moral limbo. What a timely term. When I said that these Christians are sinning against me, against the Body, I think that is a key. It actually only came in as an after-thought, but, seriously, what are we supposed to do?
What would Jesus do? He presented their sin to them as sin and told them to repent. but, what if they don’t? What is protocol for those Believers who are already blood-bought who refuse to recognize and repent of their sins?
Matthew 18 spells it out, telling us to bring them before other witnesses and then the Church. If they do not repent, we are to treat them as an infidel.
I don’t want to do that. And, if we do, then what? We are labeled as just being legalistic, judgmental and hypocritical, because, everybody knows we all sin daily.
Not in the case of my friend, but in other cases, I am mad that I have to keep Believers’ sins secret.
We have listened to the world’s version of the Gospel for far too long. Seen too many Hollywood productions and felt superior to those who have fallen and been mocked in the public eye. We have heard too many watered-down sermons or not listened at all.
We treat the Bible as a good reference book, but not one to live our lives by daily.
Are we hearers and not doers only? I don’t know. To some extent, I think.
The Apostate Church is on the rise, and Believers are at critical mass as far as where we stand on things. It is time to decide.
Paul said, “I am the chiefest of sinners.” We each have to have that same attitude or we are in danger of being everything we abhor about ‘those hypocrites’.
I, too, am thankful that our children can live real life and see the consequences of sin. We have a very real-life examples that sin *does* catch you, even when you think you are getting away with it.
God said that sin will not be hidden. It will be brought out into the light. Why do we think we are master sin-hiders? God loves us enough to show us our sin and even expose it to bring us to Him. Ouch.
“God help us,” is all I find myself saying.
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Comment by Robyn
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i find myself calling to our “heavenly father” more and more… Our only hope is in Him alone
Phil 4:13
gp in Montana
GPs last blog post..Street Talk
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Jacque,
I just found your blog through a link from Kim Wolf’s and am very glad to have found it. Thank you for this thought-provoking and convicting post.
I think one of the hardest parts of being a Titus 2 woman is the responsibility of the older mature woman in the faith being able to tell the younger ones—in love, always in love—the truth. It is hard. It requires lots of self-examination that we might repent and get the mote out of own eye first. But it is necessary.
You said, “Matthew 18 spells it out, telling us to bring them before other witnesses and then the Church. If they do not repent, we are to treat them as an infidel.
I don’t want to do that. And, if we do, then what? We are labeled as just being legalistic, judgmental and hypocritical, because, everybody knows we all sin daily.
Not in the case of my friend, but in other cases, I am mad that I have to keep Believers’ sins secret.”
Being a deacon’s [he's also been called to preach] wife , I can relate. Sometimes it is very frustrating to do the right thing Scripturally with love, only to see it used as a weapon of manipulation in the hands of an unrepentant person determined to tar and feather you—especially someone who finds their worth not in Christ, but in the amount of people around them who pat them on the back to say, “you are ok, pal, we’re still with you” [the popularity factor you mentioned].
Our “flesh” would like very much to tell our own side of the story to those who are listening to idle tales, but we cannot. To do so would be to join the devil at his own game. Like Christ, we often must not answer our accusers [Matthew 27:12-14]. We must continue as my dear husband says to “tell the truth in love.” Part of that love is not going tit for tat with those who refuse to repent. We must pray for those who “despitefully use us.” Knowing that we must sometimes bear nasty labels [unjustly] for doing the right thing is just part of bearing the cross to win the crown. Indulging in a battle of competing stories is not likely to win a lost person to Christ, and not likely to bring restoration to the other party–the ultimate goal of such confrontation.
You are right—before taking such a major step of confrontation a la Matthew 18 we must truly repent ourselves. If we truly belong to Him, this sort of thing should cause us to agonize over our personal failures before we even take that option, to repent ourselves that we might not be hypocrites, to bring to the table of discussion an honest desire for reconciliation to God by all parties–ourselves first.
You’ve given me much food for thought tonight. Thank you. I apologize for rambling. in Christ, Gin
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Oh dear, I hope that didn’t come off as “superior”. Your post reminded me of similar situations in my life. I hope this didn’t sound like a lecture. Many apologies if it did. in HIM, Gin
Gins last blog post..The First Effect of Disbelieving God
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Thank you for this post. I found it very convicting. I was also very encouraged to read the post and the comments and realize that many Christian women out there are prayfully living life. I am struggling with the rest of you and am so grateful for my sisters in Christ.
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