Religion is at its best
When it makes us
Ask hard questions
Of ourselves.
It is at its worst
When it deludes
Us into thinking
We have all
The answers for
Everybody else.
My Commentary:
Religion is most dangerous when it becomes a mirror we hold up to everyone else and never turn toward ourselves.
Jesus understood this well. He repeatedly challenged religious people who were very good at identifying the sins of others but remarkably poor at recognizing their own. “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,” He asked, “but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?”
That question is as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago.
Our Christian faith should make us uncomfortable sometimes. It should cause me to ask: Am I loving enough? Am I forgiving? Do I judge people too quickly? Do I care about the poor? Do I welcome the stranger? Do my words heal or wound? Am I becoming more like Christ?
Those questions are much harder than deciding what is wrong with everyone else.
There is certainly truth at the heart of Christianity. Jesus did not teach that every answer is equally correct. But possessing truth should make us humble, not arrogant. The closer we come to God, the more clearly we recognize how much we still need God’s mercy.
Jesus reserved some of His strongest criticism for religious people who believed their righteousness made them superior to others. Meanwhile, He welcomed sinners who knew they needed grace. Perhaps that is the great test of religion.
If my faith makes me more judgmental, self-righteous, angry, and certain of everyone else’s faults, something has gone wrong.
But if my faith makes me more humble, compassionate, forgiving, generous, and willing to examine my own heart, then religion is doing what it was meant to do.
Christianity begins to transform the world when we stop asking, “Lord, what is wrong with them?”
And begin asking:
“Lord, what needs to change in me?”
Think of a time when YOU noticed the splinter in someone else’s eye, but did not notice the wooden beam in your own eye.
THE GOD WHO MADE YOU CAN ALSO REMAKE YOU!!
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