Unity Project Week #11
Choice in the moment. Are you a sinner or a saint?
I’ve noticed lately that many of us have 2 categories that we try and put ours and others behavior in.
Category 1: Worldly, debauchery type category. You know, good ol fashion sinning. Getting drunk, doing drugs, lying, cheating, being greedy, smoking cigarettes in dark alleys, cussing, etc…
Category 2: Holy activities. You know, praying, taking communion, good works, attending a bible study, giving money to a stranger in need, etc..,
When we have remorse about category 1, we think to ourselves, “dang, I need to go do some category 2 stuff”.
When we are doing category 2 stuff, we often find ourselves thinking, “whew, I’m glad I’m not doing category 1 stuff……like so and so is…,”
The 2 problems I see with this is that on the one hand we think we can somehow “get ourselves cleaned up” by action, as if it was some sort of cosmic teeter totter, and if we just pile enough good stuff up on one end it will push the momentum toward the good and outweigh the bad. On the other hand we tend to judge people making bad decisions in category 1 instead of helping them.
So this basically sums up 2 of the major stereotypes that I think people in the “world” have with people in the “church”. We in the “church” somehow got it in our heads that it’s our jobs to judge. We think we are the judge freaking masters. We judge ourselves, we judge the world, we judge the people in the church. No one is free from our laser like, heat seeking missiles of judgement.
So, what’s the remedy?
I think it goes something like this.
“Hello. My name is Damon (or insert your name here) and I am a sinner. I consistently make terrible choices. Luckily for me, I met a guy, he’s invisible and he says he is the judge of my choices and he forgives me, he actually said “if I call on his name, I’ll be saved”.
Here’s the catch. He’s invisible(at least right now) He says he needs me to speak and do things for him. So, my name is Damon, I’m a sinner, I do all kinds of category 1 things, yet I also have the ability to do a new category of things. This category is things that my invisible friend asks me to do. He not only asks me to do them, he gives me the power and ability to do them. So, when I’m done doing category 3 stuff, I can’t really take credit for them.
That’s as simple as I can put this “church” thing. Let’s not think we can get ourselves clean and let’s not be judging jedis. Let’s introduce people to our invisible friend, Jesus. And let’s try and do some things that he asks us and gives us the power to do. It’s our choice.
PS- note to the healthy cynic. Don’t believe in that crap? Or sick of religious people’s crap. That’s fine, I’m just telling you what happened to me. This whole judgement thing is apparently not my job, it’s Gods. See I’ve found that there are actually other “invisible” entities in this realm of reality that we live in and one of their favorite things to do is to judge as well. I’ve found that as I’ve embraced that God has the power (since he’s the judge) to forgive me, that it frees me up to forgive others. Feeling forgiven and forgiving others is a great reality, I highly recommend it. Past every thought, emotion, memory, etc… Is this deep underlying choice to give the judgement and forgiveness keys away, just sit them down.
So, sinner or saint? I’m going with what He calls me, not what others or I call myself.
Love-Damon
