All That Matters

I was raised in church.  My dad was a pastor, and throughout the years, I saw a lot of good in church … but I also saw a lot of bad.  A lot of hypocrisy.  Not from my parents and not from everyone, but from many people in the church-going community. 

In my experience, instead of love and grace, much of all the church goers offered was judgment.  The very people who were supposed to show the love of Christ and to extend lavish grace and forgiveness were instead the ones to pass the most judgment and condemnation. 

If you fell down, instead of offering a hand to help you get back up, they were there waiting to cast stones.  I guess they forgot the verse in the Bible where Jesus said to let those without sin cast the first stone (John 8:7).  And they must have skipped over Matthew 7:1-2, where Jesus says, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

And though they might not let any profanity come from their mouths, they certainly spoke plenty of foul speech by slandering others and spreading gossip. Funny that they never seemed to have a problem with that, because the last time I checked my Bible, slander and gossip are sins just as much as anything else.

I also found that many church goers were quick to boast about their righteousness while simultaneously tearing down other people, much like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day.  Jesus had many encounters with these religious zealots and had much to say about them. 

One example is recounted in Luke 18:9-14, “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’  “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’  “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Jesus did not condone hypocrisy – he called it out on numerous occasions.  In Matthew 6:5, Jesus explicitly tells us not to be like this, “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.”

Yet I found that hypocrisy was prevalent in the church – and I don’t just mean the church that I attended, I mean the church community as a whole.  And all that I witnessed over the years was the primary reason I left the church in my early twenties.  Not because the world enticed me, not because I wanted to experience what the world had to offer, but because of all the judgment that I received and all the hypocrisy that I observed in the church community.  I didn’t want to be part of a community like that.

It would be a decade before I would return to the church.  I finally came to a point of realizing that I couldn’t let other people’s actions, judgments, and opinions keep me from a relationship with God, from growing my faith, nor from being part of a community of believers to fellowship and serve together. For I also realized that all of the church goers were simply people in need of grace, just like me.  

We all make mistakes.  We all fall down.  We all fall short.  

And I’m willing to admit that and to admit that I need the grace of my Savior, Jesus Christ … EVERY SINGLE DAY.  And the same grace that I’ve received – grace that I don’t deserve – as a Christian I’m obligated (and willing) to give that grace to others.  

Grace and forgiveness.  Forgiveness that doesn’t remind me of my past wrongs nor throw my sins in my face.  For God keeps no records of wrongs and removes my sin as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).  Complete and total forgiveness.  Unmerited mercy.  Not because I earned it, but because Jesus paid the price for me.

As Christians, we are called to extend to others the same mercy, grace, and forgiveness that God extends to us.  To be the hands and feet of Jesus to a hurting world.  To help others in their time of need.  To pick people up when they fall down.  To give second chances, and third chances, and however many chances it takes.

Because that’s what God does for us.

And when we judge, we are playing God.  That’s not our job.

Our job is to extend love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness.  That’s what God gives to us.  That’s what God requires from us.  And that’s all that matters.