I’m sorry, friend,

that you’ve felt the heavy weight

of an evangelical’s judgment

 

I’m sorry that Jesus’ followers

have made you feel less-than

and turned their backs on you

 

They’ve treated you rudely,

they’ve elevated themselves

 

and all you wanted to do

was run away from them

 

I’m sorry, friend,

that you were not welcomed

by the ones who accept God’s grace as their own

 

I’m sorry that when you entered church

you were made to feel excluded

from their sickeningly righteous club

 

I’m just so sorry…

 

As a follower of Christ

as an evangelical

as a Christian

let me say a collective “Please forgive us”

 

It’s not the way it’s supposed to be

It’s not what God would want

 

He would have reached out to you

 

to YOU!

 

and would have had harsh words

for the piously off-putting

 

those who are religiously clean on the outside

but dead and rotting on the inside

 

There was a time

when I didn’t get it either

 

I didn’t “get” grace

 

I was saved by it

but I didn’t get it

 

I looked down my nose at Christians and non

without even realizing I was doing it

 

I thought I needed to set everyone straight

 

But then Jesus lovingly and straightforwardly

showed me

my self-righteous hypocrisy

 

Realizing my attitude

I started to change through His Spirit

 

and to put thoughts of condemnation for others

out of my mind

 

replacing them

with Holy Spirit led love

for each and every one

 

by

His

grace

 

Now

I don’t want to point out

and think about

all the flaws people have

 

I just want to point them to Jesus

the One who will welcome them

 

completely

lovingly

graciously

unconditionally

 

I believe that when you start to understand grace

you realize that everyone is in the same boat

 

all of us need it

and need to be lifted out of our mess

by a gracious God

 

Judgment of another person

shows hardness of heart

 

an arrogance

 

The one who is forgiven

and saved by grace freely given

 

has no room

to look down

on a single soul

 

but should stand solidly on Truth

hold tightly to our relational God

and extend the love and grace

extended to him

 

Grace –

It

is

all

God’s

 

given to us

and extended through us

 

– Susie Stewart

 

**I am thankful to say that I am part of a church where people are welcomed and treated with grace.  I have, though, experienced churches where this was not the case.  And I don’t like hearing about people who are not used to going to church being treated badly by those in the church.

 

Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.

– Matthew 7:1-5 (MSG)

 

God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

– Ephesians 2:8,9 (NLT)

 

As He was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

They were trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger. They kept demanding an answer, so He stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then He stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

1“No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

– John 8:3-11 (NLT)

 

You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You’re like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it’s all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you’re saints, but beneath the skin you’re total frauds.

– Matthew 23:27,28  (MSG)