Do I Really Want To Be A Christian?

Whenever I say the words, "I'm a Christian," in my mind, I can't help silently adding "... Get me out of here!"

 

I blame ITV and the popular programme "I'm a Celebrity".

 

I am a Christian (Get me out of here!), but I don't know that I like the label 'Christian'.  Not because I want to hide what I believe or disguise it somehow, but because over time the word has become corrupted.

 

I think the meaning of 'Christian' is stuck in the 70s: long, untamed hair; rainbow guitar straps; rainbow/tie-dyed t-shirts; the iconic socks-and-sandals combo; people who are overly polite and yet hypocritical; incredibly judgmental and narrow-minded; and yet something of a pushover at the same time.

 

Think the ever-chipper, "Hi-diddly-doodly neighbours!" Ned Flanders in The Simpsons.

 

 

Someone detached from reality and a laughing-stock to most who know him.

 

And I find myself asking Do I really want to be a Christian?

 

If that is what being a Christian looks like, I'm out.

 

And what's more, this image of Christianity - of being a Christian - bears no resemblance whatsoever to Christ - the reason for our faith.

 

I love Jesus because He wasn't a Christian and He wasn't anything like the stereotype we have come to associate with the word "Christian" either.

 

He wasn't polite: He cared more about sharing life-giving truth with people than upsetting their feelings.  He wasn't hypocritical: He literally practised what He preached and loved people as He taught us to.  He wasn't judgmental and narrow-minded: in fact, He was accused of being too liberal by the religious leaders of His time.  He ate with prostitutes and let them wash His feet; He invited a scheming, friendless tax-collector for tea; He crossed social and religious and geographical boundaries when He chatted to a promiscuous, unmarried woman from Samaria.  He healed people who were sick or dying, regardless of whether it was the day of rest.

 

He valued people. 

 

Above all else, He loved and valued and cared for the people He came into contact with. 

 

He wasn't confined by rules or guidelines or rituals.  He was governed and motivated by love.

 

He wasn't controlled by religion.  He was moved by relationship.

 

That's what I want my life to look like, too.  Not the bad-hair, 70's style, stereotypical "Christian", but a life modelled on Christ.  A life which, like His, is motivated by relationship and governed by love.

 

"This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him.  This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.  My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other.  No one has seen God, ever.  But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!"

 

[1 John 4:8-12 MSG]