Tuesday, January 27, 2015

In The Image of Christ OR In The Image of Christians

It sounds trite, contrived and maybe even controlling, but as Christians we are called to conform to the image of Christ. Our personal persona (if that's not redundant), is to be submerged in His and our less than perfect character is supposed to be remade or even replaced with His perfect image. We are to become Jesus in the world and to represent Him as if we were Him in our deeds and actions and behaviors.

And while there is general agreement about what that means, there is also 2000 years of church traditions that also attempt to define it and sometimes, that's all it is....tradition. Our traditions sometimes have little scriptural basis, but for whatever the reason, we never let that stop us from trying to enforce on each other our personal versions of what it means to be Christ-like.

My thought is that the intent of the heart determines the authenticity of the behavior. Many of us run around acting like self appointed morality police. We expect both Christians and non-Christians to conform to our idea of what it means to be Christ-like and we feel compelled to call them on it when they do not conform to what we perceive as the image of Christ.

Most of the time this happens in the Church between Christians. It can be an ugly discussion or it can be healthy, but it all depends on one thing.

Relationship.

If we are all seeking to be like Jesus and we are trying to adopt his examples in our lives and make them our own, we have to be able to come together to help each other. We cannot do that if we do not have the interconnectedness of relationship and a willingness to listen to each other. There is a tendency among those that think they have the moral high ground to try to control behavior through condemnation and shame.

Let me suggest that this is not necessarily the route you may want to take to "help" someone. Try instead to develop a relationship with this person...a friendship. Encourage trust. Learn to value their opinions so that they will value yours. Let them see how you choose to live. Let it become a topic of discussion. One thing leads to another. Change takes time. If someone trusts you, they are much more likely to listen to you.

That's my thought for the day. Do what you want.

I have to prepare Ground Hog Day. No one wants any surprises on 2/2.