A couple of days ago someone posted this quote on Facebook…"Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God: for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice and mediocrity and materialism and selfishness that have chilled his faith." - Thomas Merton. It has really provoked me think about what Thomas is saying and the truth his statement holds.
Truth is—if I were a non-Believer I think I might find it pretty hard to believe in God with the world the way it is today. I asked myself why I was feeling this way and I realized it’s because of what I see going on in the Christian world. There is such contradiction! And I wonder is this the reason people are waxing cold toward God?
Is it because Christians are all over the place and continuously give Yeshua (Jesus) a black eye and bad name? Like the group that is picketing funerals of fallen soldiers and sporting signs that say, “God hates them and gays” and that is why they are dead? What about the pastor who wanted to burn the Koran? Or is it that we are telling women to wait on the Lord and then the Christian dating service hits the airwaves and is now telling women, “Yes, you may be waiting on the Lord, but sometimes He is waiting on you to make the move?” Is it that we have one scandal after another—Pastors committing adultery, involved in homosexual activities and paying to spend time with prostitutes…male and female? Is it that pedophiles have been allowed for years to prey on children and the authorities in the Church have turned a blind eye to what was going on? Or is it the group that is waiting for a mere man to be resurrected? Or what about the group that believes they know when the Messiah is returning, even though the Bible states that Yeshua (Jesus) himself doesn’t know when He will be coming back, only God knows the hour in which that will happen!
Why would a sinner want to come to a God who hates them? Even in the world people hate hypocrites, so why would someone want to be around a bunch of them supposedly in the name of the Lord? So, then, why are we so surprised and quick to judge someone when we see they no longer believe in God?
Young women join church and are approached by married men, pastors and others who hold office in the church. They are shunned and can’t seem to fit into one of the many cliques, and to top it all off—they really don’t see much of a difference in the people other than they might get dressed up to come together. But deep down they look exactly like the hard curl world they thought they were turning away from.
Young men who want to turn their lives around come to church looking for a place of refuge, but find themselves being hounded by a bunch of desperate women, who say they are holy, but behind closed doors they are the same ungodly women they thought they were getting away from. They were hoping to meet godly men and be mentored as Paul mentored Timothy, but what they find is the same old mindsets as in the streets, but covered up in a façade of false humility and the guise of holiness.
People are being sold a bill of goods, that once a Believer, God will wave a magic wand and all your troubles will disappear. But when that doesn’t happen, they fall away—because they were tricked into believing something that wasn’t true.
So many have stopped believing in God because of what they see. And what they are not seeing is the love and truth of God. Individually as the visible representation of the invisible God, we are falling short too. We are a mess! We are not honest on our jobs; (stealing time from our employers) we are mean spirited to others, unforgiving, and argumentative. We are cold and selfish with our—me, me, me, attitudes. We see people in need but dare not extend a helping hand because we love our money or we just don’t want to make time. We are not kind to our spouses. We are compassionless to others we deem, “She made her bed, now she will just have to lie in it!”
Take a moment and think about it.
Now do you see how people can have a hard time believing in God? I can. Not only are Christians (as a group) and our poor behavior and conflicting ways on public display on a daily bases, so are our individual lives. We are falling short as the “Church” and one-by-one.
It is time for us sisters to make sure we look like the Messiah to the world. They must see something that is different about us. Not us trying to convince through our words that we are different, but by the way we live and treat others is how they are to know. And for those who have waxed cold toward God, we are to pray for them and love them, petitioning for their safe return to the Household of Faith.
I pray that you have been provoked to examine what your reflection might look like to others. And to have compassion on those who are lost.
Love & Hugs
Ponnie
See you tomorrow!
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