Over the past few weeks, I've had a number of conversations around Christianity, what it means to follow Jesus, and why Christians don't always seem to look much like Him. Those conversations got me thinking, so I thought I'd put a few thoughts into writing.
If Christianity is about following Jesus, then shouldn't Christians look more like Jesus? It's a fair question. In fact, it's a question I sometimes ask myself.
Jesus was known for His compassion, humility, grace, mercy, truth, and self-giving love. Yet many people looking at Christianity today wonder why it sometimes appears that some Christians are moving in the opposite direction. Sometimes Christians seem more known for arguments than kindness, more defensive than humble, and more eager to point out other people's faults than their own.
The uncomfortable truth is that there is often a gap between the teachings of Jesus and the way His followers live them out.
Many people carry wounds from experiences where Christians have not reflected the grace, humility, and love of Christ as they should. Such experiences can bring deep disappointment, hurt, and confusion. At the same time, followers of Jesus are often keenly aware of their own weaknesses and failures, and of how much they still need God's transforming grace as they seek to become more like Jesus.
Perhaps both perspectives meet at the same place: the acknowledgement that human beings are imperfect and that transformation is often slower and messier than any of us would like.
That honesty is actually woven throughout the Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote:
"For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing."
Romans 7:19
Honestly, that sounds less like a spiritual superhero and more like the rest of us.
Some people picture the church as a museum filled with polished saints. My experience is that it's far closer to a hospital waiting room. Nobody walks into a hospital because they've already been healed. They come because they need help.
The same is true for many Christians. We don't follow Jesus because we've mastered love, patience, forgiveness, or humility. We follow Him because we've realised how much we need His help learning those things.
One of my recurring discoveries is that God appears to be far less interested in my timetable than I am. I would like transformation by next Tuesday. God seems content with a process that lasts a lifetime. Sometimes I wish becoming more like Jesus worked like a software update.
Installing patience...
Estimated time remaining: 3 minutes.
Instead, it feels more like a long journey with progress, setbacks, lessons, wrong turns, and fresh starts. Some days I can see evidence of growth. Other days I react exactly as I would have ten years ago and wonder whether I've learned anything at all. That's not an excuse. It's simply reality. The good news is that God isn't finished with us yet.
"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6