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Aug 05, 2021 08:00am

The World Is Wrong About Christians

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Your walk talks, and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder that your talk talks.

Translation: What you actually do means way more than what you say you’re doing.

It’s something my pastor says a lot, and it’s about the Christian life. If you know a Christian, or someone who professes to be one, you will not see a perfect life. In fact, those of us have been saved by grace are some on the most flawed people you’ll ever know.

How do I know this? Because I am one of them.

Way back at the age of five or so, I began hanging around a group of people who met every Sunday, talked about the Bible and Jesus, and seemed to love me unconditionally. When I was seven years old, I walked the aisle to be saved even though I didn’t know what that meant.

Without a doubt in my mind, I know that moment began a faith journey that has lasted more than four decades. And it began because someone invited me to church, and in that church there were authentic Christians . . . but they were far from perfect.

During that faith journey – which was more like an ongoing relationship with Jesus – I stumbled, doubted, rebelled, failed, and sinned. Instead of allowing him to be in control, I tried to be, and since Jesus is not a bully, he let me walk away from him and taste life outside his wonderful boundaries. What the world says are rules and restrictions are really best practices for life. They’re not unfair or harsh or judgmental, they’re just guidelines for true joy.

As a teenager, I doubted my salvation, and I rededicated my life many times. It was a time when I became most aware of my wandering heart, my sin nature, and my desire for worldly things outside those precious boundaries. But God pulled me back time and time again.

I was talking the talk but not walking the walk . . . and it continues to this day.

Thankfully, he is not a harsh God who strikes us down or punishes us because we fail. Does that mean you won’t have heartache, pain, grief and suffering? No. But I’ve experienced all of those things, and I promise that a life lived for him, one that glorifies him, is a full and complete one.

The Bible has many promises for Christians but here’s one of them. Jesus promised the following:

“If you keep if you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11)

That verse might sound like you have to do what Jesus says to “remain in his love” but nothing could be further from the truth. Joy comes through your surrender to him. It’s a crazy concept for this world to understand, but everything in the Bible is radical!

Let go of all the negative things you believe about Christians, about God, about what the world says is true, and trust Jesus. Yes, we Christians are not perfect, and our walks don’t match our talks, but give us – those who have been rescued from a life of sin and death – a chance to show you what the Christian life really is.

So respond to that radical call and experience joy that only that only comes from complete surrender to Jesus.