A Real Christian

Christianity Outside of Perfectionism

“Wow, that’s real Christian…”

That’s what someone close to me said in response to a comment I had made.

To be fair, my comment was lacking in the 1 Corinthians 13 department… Okay, okay— it was rude. I made a very rude, unnecessary comment. So, in all honesty, this person’s pointed sarcasm was, well, on point. But it got me thinking: Why is a person’s faith the first thing we call out when they stumble?

I scribbled down a few words and then approached my husband. “Hey, if someone tells you they’re a Christian, what are the first words that come to mind?” I asked him. He responded without missing a beat, “On a pedestal, judgmental, perfect.” My list was almost identical.

I was raised going to a church with a lot of “don’ts”— Christians don’t do this. Or that. Not that either. Definitely not that. They meant well, but it didn’t take me long to form this idea of who I thought Christians were. It was quite simple really, summed up in just one word: Perfect.

As I stumbled my way through my teens and the trainwreck of my early twenties, I’m not sure a single person in my life at that time knew I was a Christian, including myself. I began to count myself out the moment I could no longer be perfect—and you can guess how quickly that happened. I snowballed into a self-fulfilling prophecy of imperfection; I can’t be perfect, why try at all? Christians didn’t think the things I thought, or do the things I did, or say the things I said, right?

Wrong.

Every minute of every hour of every day, Christians fail. And we stumble. And we fall.

It’s an absolute travesty to pretend otherwise.

Perfect exited the building the moment the apple was eaten. God never intended us to walk a tightrope of perfection while carrying our crosses and battling our demons. Throughout the Bible, he uses broken people to fulfill his mission. And I don’t mean the occasional white liar, I’m talking murderers, adulterers, prostitutes, cowards, betrayers, outcasts— the broken of the broken.

We are called to change our hearts, to make an honest effort, to love and live like Jesus, to be his disciples— but we were not called to be Jesus himself. He alone is perfection, so when (not if— when) we fall and seek forgiveness, there is grace upon grace. Maybe I’m oversimplifying here, but as Pastor Ted Max says in his sermon series This is for Everyone, maybe we’ve overcomplicated it, too.

Up until recently, I’ve never been outspoken about my faith because perfect, I am not. I never wanted to call myself a Christian and then misrepresent what it means to be one. If I’m being honest, I don’t know my Bible verses. I lose my patience far too quickly. My heart errors on the side of selfishness. I can hold a grudge like nobody’s business… but by the grace of God, I’m trying, with my whole heart. And maybe that’s the part that really matters.

So, what if we were more honest about our humanity as Christians? Would more people feel like they had a place in the church? I think so.

More personal, less pedestal.

More genuine, less judgemental.

That comment I had made? It wasn’t real Christian of me, but it was me being a real Christian—imperfect, in need of forgiveness, and a constant work in progress.

Love,

A real Christian

If you enjoyed this blog post, I think you’ll love Recognizing Resistance and Saying Yes. It’s all about the sneaky ways resistance shows up in our lives and the power in simply being aware of it.