Life as a Christian is not all fun and games.
Quite a few of you who do not call yourselves Christians think that people in the so-called "Christian community" must have it made. Some of you assume that we think we are perfect and that we live perfect lives with perfect children and everything goes just perfectly in our perfect world.
Boy, are you living in a dream world of your own. Or you just have been watching way too many late night televangelism programs. Because, trust me...the Devil really hates Christians. And he really has a grudge against us. Not only does he want us to suffer, but he wants to keep us from telling people like you about the benefits of being a Christian.
Being a Christian is not for the faint of heart. People will hate you. People will challenge your beliefs. You will even have doubts of your own. What happens when you have doubts? You think you are a weak Christian. You will question God. Some people will even turn from God for a time. But if you are strong, you will ask God the questions you have. You will ALWAYS ask Him questions. God will always answer you. You have to be strong enough to accept His answers.
You see, sin is a hard thing for new Christians to purge from their lives. Heck, it is hard for an experienced Christian. It is our nature to want to sin. You may want to reject the Word of God because you think a certain sin "should" be allowed. This is another hurdle for new Christians. We try to conform to the world when we should conform to God. What we grew up around, the world, seems so normal. It seems so right. It seems so cruel to deny people their guilty pleasure, their sins. But remember, God knows what is beneficial and what is harmful to us. He loves us and knows what is best for us.
So, what happens to us when we decide to follow Christ? It is a big deal, right? Right! Your life changes forever! The world will hate you because you have turned away from it. You have turned to Christ instead.
And it is a commitment. When you commit to Christ, he holds you to it...but not by force. You may try to go back on your end of the bargain, but believe me, Christ will get you back. And you can come back two ways. Preferably, you can come back the easy way, by asking God to forgive you for turning your back on Him and return to him on your own. Or you can make things hard on yourself. God will leave you to your sinful ways. He will let you make mistakes. He does this so that you will learn. Then you will have no choice but to come back to Christ like the prodigal son came home to his father. And Christ will take you back and love you. That totally rocks!
You can save yourself a lot of suffering by swallowing your pride and realizing that Christ loves you and knows what is best for you. He loves you more than anyone could possible love you. He DIED for you.
So, do you understand, Christians do not live a perfect life? We have a loving God who is like the best Dad in the world. We chose our salvation, yet once we choose it, we are bound to it by God's love. When we make mistakes, we have to learn from our mistakes. That is how God shows His love. And, Satan is on our backs trying to mess us up so people like you who do not know Christ will think we are just terrible people.
Understand this: Christians are not perfect. Some of us may try to act perfect. Some of us may mistakenly think we are perfect. But if we were truly perfect, why would we need a Savior? So on behalf of the Christians like me who know we are not perfect, please do not listen to those so-called perfect Christians. They are sadly mistaken and therefore are NOT perfect. They will certainly be in my prayers.
