Thank God for grace.

Isn't that what it all boils down to at the end of the day? As Christians, I feel like we get so bogged down by all of the "church stuff." Essentially, everything goes back to having a relationship with Jesus. That's it. Plain and simple. Why is that so hard for us? For me, I think it's because it seems too easy. There's got to be more to it, right? How could such a big God want NOTHING more from us than a personal relationship? Surely there is more to it. Yes? No.

You're going to have to bear with me, because this may be a scattered post. These are things that we have discussed a lot lately in church, things that have been my constant prayers over the last few months, struggles I've had, and so on.

My eyes have really been opened lately to how, as a Christian culture, we have strayed so far from what Christianity truly means. I think what really hit home for me was all of the controversy over Phil Robertson. Social media has given us this huge platform for sharing anything and everything that pops into our minds. GQ asked an old school, southern Christian man about his beliefs and it blows my mind that people were surprised by his response. I think my very favorite part of the whole thing was the quote that came out after. Whether or not Phil actually said it, I have no idea. But there is more truth in this statement than any I've heard in such a long time.

"Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything the believe or do."

It doesn't get much more simple than that. Love God and love people. No matter what. I had to stop looking at my Facebook feed during the whole Duck Dynasty debacle because I just almost couldn't stand it. But I think what bothered me the very most were the posts that came straight out of the Christian community. Whether or not you agree with a homosexual lifestyle doesn't matter at the end of the day. Yes, I just said that. It. Does. Not. Matter. Do you think that posting your disgust for the gay community and your support for Phil Robertson is going to bring anyone to Christ? Probably not. 

We have somehow gotten sucked into this "holier than thou" mentality because we think we know best. Because, I mean, after all, we ARE Christians. No. Just no. I fall short every.single.day. But you know what? Jesus loves me regardless. No less than he did yesterday when maybe my sins weren't quite as bad. (hint: My sins are always equally as bad. Every single day.) I feel like we push people away from Christ with our actions rather than bring them to him. Just because we don't agree with their actions, their lifestyle, their choices, their words...whatever it may be...does not make them any less worthy. Because guess what? WE aren't worthy. Our actions, lifestyle, choices, words are no better than the next person. The difference is that we have a relationship with Jesus and he forgives every single one of our sins every single day. So who are we to decide that someone else isn't worthy of the same forgiveness? 

We take the bible and we twist it and turn it to fit whatever makes us feel the best about what we are doing at any given time. Do you know what the bible boils down to? Love God, love people. I am absolutely no bible expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I am slowly but surely figuring that part out. I had planned on sharing more with you on my thoughts about this particular subject, but since this has gotten crazy long, I think I'll save it for another day!

Yesterday at church our pastor said something that really stood out to me. He simply said, "thank God for grace." What a simple statement that means more than we can even fathom. So yes, thank you God for your unending, unwavering, unfailing grace. Over and over again.