Belonging

Kerry Mackey was quoted from a blog on http://www.streettotheseat.com. He wrote, "I think you can belong before you believe and certainly before you behave and/or become." In other words, it is okay for your spiritual journey to go thusly;

 

Belonging (associating with Christians in church, even if skeptical or non-Christian)

Believing (willing to "test drive" following Jesus)

Behaving (willing, out of love, to correct ourselves when we fall short)

Becoming (transforming to the Christ-like image, which is our destiny)

 

True, these overlap and we even may double back on some for a "do-over." Yes, we could split hairs on this one. But I think something bigger is going on.

 

The people I talk to outside the church and many who initially come to church (or return to church) see that they must clean up (their act) before showing up. The job seems impossible so, they never come or it takes them 4 or 5 "running starts" to show up. In the New Testament, most of the "cleaned up" people not only kept out others by fussy rules, they were branded hypocrites (double standard) and killed off Jesus. Jesus seemed to like the company of misfits, immoral types, rabbinical flunkouts and people who were close to the earth more than close to perfect.

 

Do you set barriers for others? Yourself? Can you believe that Christ's death and resurrection make you okay as a person? That only God is perfect, therefore, we need grace? Jesus never made a statement about where we were "on the Way." He only offered an invitation to follow. Wherever we are on the Way, by grace, is acceptable.