I am one of you. You are my friends and family, but I need to confess something.
I worship a god that is not the one true God. That god is me.
Daily I put myself before my Lord. I worship myself when I choose to speak my own words and further my own agendas instead of his message. I worship myself when I watch another Netflix episode instead of pulling out my bible. I worship myself when I buy that cute dress I don't need, instead of placing bills in the offering plate. I worship myself when I let my own anger, sadness, or frustration cause me to say mean hurtful things to God's people.
There are days when I celebrate this sin. I proudly proclaim that I am a confident independent woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. I consider it a strength that I can read people in a situation and manipulate them into an outcome that serves what I want.
Yet on Sunday morning, you greet me. As I walk up the steps to the church you give me a warm smile and ask about my week with my students. You say such kind things to me about being a mature young women with a heart for the Lord. You invite me into your women's groups and encourage me to join the choir. Never once have I seen you carry a sign or post a social media message telling me that I am going to hell or that I need to know that pride is a sin.
What if my sins were different? What if I were gay? Would you still welcome me into the church? Would you make it your personal mission to make certain I knew you disapproved of me and my sin?
"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." James 2:10
There lies the problem. My sin is no more condemning than any other. Just like lying, sexual immorality, murder, worry, jealousy, slander, and hate, pride is a sin that separates me from God. No sin is better or worse than another in Christ's eyes.
Now before you tell me that this is different because I recognize that pride is a sin, I will tell you this: I don't fight against pride every time it occurs. I don't always even recognize it when it happens, and like I said before, I sometimes even celebrate it.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
God himself didn't need me to clean up my act before he could love me. He didn't even need me to recognize my own sins. Instead, his love and his Holy Spirit called my heart and revealed the grace of redemption through Christ's death on a cross and resurrection from the grave. It was the Holy Spirit and my own personal study of the bible that made me realize that I have a whole lot of pride.
How can we as Christians claim our standard for love is higher than Almighty God? Why do we demand that we must make sure someone acknowledges their sins before we can love and accept them?
I beg this of you Christians, stop using your voice for condemnation and hate. Stop making your stand one of pointing out everyone's sins, and start following Christ's example. His passion was for the people. He loved so many regardless of their backgrounds, age, gender, or sins. He did not demand that people change before he loved them. It was after they were touched by his love that they felt inspired to make their changes.
If you want something to get angry about, start ranting against poverty and injustice against life. Those were the passions of the early church and I think we could learn a thing or two from them.
Sincerely,
Ellie
**If you are an LGBTQ person reading this post, please see it not as a condemnation of you, but of those who have treated you with anything other than love.**
