Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Membership isn't always pretty
There are times I wished it would get me discounts to buy books or get me into conferences I really want to go to. More often though it gets me judged by my family or it gets played to make me do things I really am not comfortable in doing. If you don't know what it is already, let me show you.
Yep, I'm a professing card carrying believer. Ok, so I don't actually have my official card yet. It must be in the mail, but it's played a lot.
My family, who are not believers, seem to use it to their advantage in "putting me into my place." When we were home last summer, I mentioned that I couldn't wait to see Eclipse. "What? I thought you were a Christian? " was the response my aunt gave me. I guess Christians are not allowed to see movies? When I question things or state my beliefs on abortion or same sex marriage, I get told I'm closed minded because of my beliefs. I also am not able to speak up during family activities when I see things that I don't want my children to hear or see, as I'm being an uptight moralist and not a mother of small children. I am a believer and yes, because of that many of my former beliefs, which were quite liberal, have changed. However, I don't go to family functions looking to witness to everyone. I would hope that the changes within me would show them the power of God in my life.
...if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. (1 Peter 3: 1-2 NIV 84)
I find that those who don't believe use our beliefs as weapons against us - even from those who should love us unconditionally. Oh, is Satan wily.....
The other time the card is called into action is to get us to do something we don't want to do or something we want to wait and pray about. During my in-laws 50th anniversary, I wanted to hire a youth group to serve coffee. I was told by a sister in law, that I wasn't a Christian since I didn't want to serve myself. I was upset and insulted by the insinuation. Another time, when someone in my study group wanted a friend of theirs to join in, we all told her that we would pray about it. She then pulled the card on us, "...if we were Christians as we said we were, we would let her join." Why do we do this to each other? We are supposed to support each other, lift each other and love each other. I don't know any verse for blackmailing each other.
We are believers. We are sisters in the word. Daughters of a great and wonderful King. When faced with the "card," we should show the same grace that Jesus showed to those who mocked Him. We should truly reflect the way God calls us to live. To be forgiving and understanding. We don't need to allow ourselves to manipulated. We need to stand up for the truth when needed. We do not need to be judgers of non-believers or ourselves.
I am a proud believer, but I still wish I could get a discount at my local Christian book store.
I'm linking up with the Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood at Finding Heaven.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
- Michelle
- Alberta, Canada
- I'm a 39 year old (oh yeah I'm telling you my age) Stay at Home mom. A former Bad Girl now reformed sinner, I'm married to my Y2K guy and raising 3 great children from God. Proudly Canadian, however, missing the West Coast, I currently live in the prairies watching the farmers fields produce as I learn how God produces the fruits in me.
Mini Me
Middleman
Tormentinator
Facebook Badge
Where I travel
6 comments:
Excellent. ☺ I can relate on so many levels. One family member who mocked me for several years sneered my way and snarled, "Jesus Freak!"
Before I could stop it from coming out of my mouth, I retorted, "You better believe it! And I'm praying you'll drink the Kool-Aid with me soon!"
Usually I say nothing. Not sure what happened that day, but the sneering has since stopped. Why do we play the card?
LOVED your post. Thanks for sharing your heart today. Happy Tuesday! ☺
How I can RELATE to this:) It is always interesting to me how subjective and situational others become based upon what suits their purposes.
My husband and I also get the "but you are a Pastor or pastor's wife!"
I guess you get two cards when you are in the ministry:)?!
It would be nice to have a card when I think about it! yet, I guess Jesus didn't get any special privileges either so we are left with being content to follow in his footsteps!
You make some great points in this post. I find it ironic that Christians are usually labelled as judgers and yet I feel that we are often judged quite a bit.
But your point is so right -- may we reflect Christ in our actions and love no matter what.
Oh I love this!!! It is so true. Just the other day I was spending time with my friend and she was going on about this person or that person from my church. She a non-believer was saying oh they did this wrong or that wrong.
I wanted to say what because we are Christians we are not allowed to make mistakes?
It bugs me that we are not allowed to be individuals.
My own family is somewhat believers so they understand but many of my friends are not and that makes it very difficult.
Great post! I guess part of the problem is that we ALL have an image of what a Christian is supposed to be, whether or not we are believers or non-believers. It seems to be easier to judge someone on face value instead of taking the time to really understand each other.
I find this whole judging issue to be very complicated. Hey, we all do it, whether or not we want to admit it or not. We believe certain behaviors are right and others are wrong. And in certain instances it is very appropriate to "judge". BUT, I think you are alluding to the SPIRIT behind the judging. The instances you mention seems to be stated out of a desire to condescend or to belittle or to guilt. Things to ponder...
Post a Comment