One of the greatest things about being a Christian is the world-wide community that you belong to as each of you are connected through the Holy Spirit. We are all one together under the one Savior, Jesus Christ! One of my least favorite things about being a Christian is how I am lumped together with ALL other Christians even when I don't support their view of how to live like Jesus or their interpretation of scripture.
We are lumped together! It is like the marriage vows we are together with Jesus, all of his as the church are His bride, and so better or worse, sick or healthy, rich or poor; we are together. So since Christians are all over the continuum I am lumped with Pat Robertson, Phil Robertson, Rob Bell, Mark Driscoll, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Rachel Held Evans, Rick Warren, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Joyce Myer, Andy Stanley, Beth Moore, Dave Ramsey, Barbara Brown Taylor, Laura Winner, Scot McKnight, Phyllis Tickle, and Shane Claibourne. All are Christians and yet they are all over the spectrum. Lumped together because they believe in Jesus, his death, burial, and resurrection. And yet being lumped together with all of these different personalities, political interests, and theological perspectives, can make you feel attacked as a Christian every day, all the time.
One way to respond to being lumped together is to make your convictions know loud enough so that you set yourself apart from the lump. However, another way to respond may be to keep sharing the perspective that is the most important. We are lumped together because we have been saved by Christ as one and we ALL confess His name and we ALL walk his path as we ALL carry our cross.
Sometimes the lumping hurts and frustrates me. But even on our worst day, we are still married to the perfect Son of God. And I'll take the hurt and frustration that comes and choose to celebrate the freedom and life we have been given.
We are lumped together! It is like the marriage vows we are together with Jesus, all of his as the church are His bride, and so better or worse, sick or healthy, rich or poor; we are together. So since Christians are all over the continuum I am lumped with Pat Robertson, Phil Robertson, Rob Bell, Mark Driscoll, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Rachel Held Evans, Rick Warren, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Joyce Myer, Andy Stanley, Beth Moore, Dave Ramsey, Barbara Brown Taylor, Laura Winner, Scot McKnight, Phyllis Tickle, and Shane Claibourne. All are Christians and yet they are all over the spectrum. Lumped together because they believe in Jesus, his death, burial, and resurrection. And yet being lumped together with all of these different personalities, political interests, and theological perspectives, can make you feel attacked as a Christian every day, all the time.
One way to respond to being lumped together is to make your convictions know loud enough so that you set yourself apart from the lump. However, another way to respond may be to keep sharing the perspective that is the most important. We are lumped together because we have been saved by Christ as one and we ALL confess His name and we ALL walk his path as we ALL carry our cross.
Sometimes the lumping hurts and frustrates me. But even on our worst day, we are still married to the perfect Son of God. And I'll take the hurt and frustration that comes and choose to celebrate the freedom and life we have been given.
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