Are you a good Christian? Me neither...

This is for you, F. Butcher and ShiningStar. There is none perfect...well, there was One.

And to anyone else: Don't let your feeling that you are imperfect hinder you from participating in Christian fellowship. We don't want to expose you, we want to love you as you are. Read on:

--Saucy Sister

It's not about being a good Christian
by John Fischer



Here's one of the greatest things about being a Christian: You can
accept yourself for who you are.


Here's one of the most tragic things about being a Christian: You can be
one for a long time without knowing this.


I was. I was what you might call a model Christian. I filled the bill.
Any church or Christian school would have seen me as a poster child
Christian. There was only one problem: I thought I was, too - when all
the while I knew I wasn't. I knew it was all pretty much a game.


All this was back when I thought a Christian was all about being a good
person - someone who would rank high in relative goodness when compared
to others more spiritually challenged.


This was before I realized that Christ died to save sinners, and to
qualify for the free gift of salvation you have to realize you are
desperately in need of being saved. You are drowning. You are dying. As
a sinner, you are among the worst.


Once you make "being good" the criteria for being a Christian, out of
necessity you become the judge of others because you have to judge
others in order to remain good in your own eyes. So if you have not come
to this, (i.e. you are still pretty good in your own eyes), and you
preach the Gospel (many do, from this perspective), it becomes a Gospel
for other people - not for you. And something doesn't ring true.


You also remain aloof to just about everybody because you can't really
know anyone for fear they might come to know you and find out your
secret, that you really are a scoundrel like everybody else. It's a
lonely life. Believe me. It's much better to be a sinner whom Jesus
Christ loves and for whom he died so you can spread the Good News about
him to other sinners like you. Then you have nothing to hide, and only
Christ - and a lot of friends - to gain by telling the truth.


I think this is one of the things that made Billy Graham such a good
evangelist. When he preached about the Gospel, he never excluded himself
from needing it. He knew the Gospel wouldn't preach if it were not,
first and foremost, for him.


Which brings us back to being a Christian and accepting yourself as who
you are. That's why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that we all have
unveiled faces. We have nothing to hide because we are reflecting the
face of Christ whom we worship in continual gratitude for our salvation.


Thank goodness. I never liked being a good Christian anyway.


"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being
transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes
from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18)





John Fischer resides in Southern California with his wife, Marti and
son, Chandler. They also have two adult children, Christopher and Anne.
John is a published author and popular speaker.