My response to “F bombs, Bikinis and What it means to be a Christian”
Ok, so we all read his article title and was immediately intrigued. What in the world do those three things have in common much less enough to write 500 words??The writer of this article, Preston Sprinkle, proceeds to talk about how grace is and that we shouldn’t judge individuals. He writes about how we “expect instant holiness from recent converts-holiness, that is, in areas where we think we’ve nailed it”. He also talks about the apostles and Shia Lebeouf. (If you haven’t read his article, I suggest you read it before continuing, here's a link to it http://faithit.com/f-bombs-and-bikinis-what-it-rea...) With that basis, I believe he is wrong.
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No one is holy. God is holy, holiness is God. He is perfect, all knowing, all understanding, always there and always will be. We don’t expect instant holiness but we do expect those changed individuals to be shriving towards being like Christ and God. That’s what being a Christian is, hence ya know the name, CHRISTian. In striving towards being like Christ, you come from the darkness into the light. You CHANGE. You don’t continue selling drugs, you don’t continue stealing, cheating, lying, you don’t cause others to fall and stumble. Yes, we should not judge someone heart because God is the only one who can see what it’s really like, but your actions and your fruits are a direct outcome of how you view the world and what your heart looks like. So, continuing to do your ‘dirty little sin’ shows that you aren’t truly changed. God has a standard for us to be held at, “be holy as I am holy”. He honors those who honor Him. When you are introduced to the love of Jesus and you accept him into your heart- you change. You get purged of your sins, you’re new and striving to be like Jesus is how you want to be. You learn that God gives a grace, grace every day that shown through waking up, having families; God creating you is a grace.
He talks in great details about the apostles and their lives before they met Christ. They came from many different backgrounds, from every day fishermen to tax collectors (men who cheated and lied in those days). What he doesn’t talk about is how they were after Christ died. How they spent years being persecuted, tortured and imprisoned for the sake of spreading Jesus’ name. How they CHANGED after His crucifixion. They spent years by Christ’s side and questioned and doubted, but when they realized He truly was the Son of God, they did everything they could to be like Him and to spread the word. The writer took the worst parts of the apostles and decided to show case them to the world, instead of showing how they changed after Christ. In Hebrews 10:26 it says “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receive in the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.”
My main point today is STOP USING GRACE AS AN EXCUSE.
Grace is not an excuse to cuss, to do whatever you want, to ignore the hungry person on the side of the road, to go and party, to sleep with whoever you want, to sin against the one who is giving you that grace. Grace is there so when you inevitably mess up, God has got you. He is there, and wants you. My pastor recently spoke about this article and he said some points that I loved. God’s grace is disciplining His people. He loved them but He also allowed them to suffer the consequences for their sins. In the book of Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “To prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God’s goal for us is to follow His plans for us but through free will, we often get off track. His love for us is shown through discipline and through discipleship. His grace comes with a truth, His truth- which is a call to Godliness to holiness.
God’s not asking for you to be perfect, because he knows on your own you can’t. He’s asking you to try.
At the end of the article, he says you cannot sanitize grace, that God meets us where we are. That’s true, God does meet us where we are, but he also expects us to change and strive toward a life that glorifies Him and not us. When we keep sinning, it’s not glorifying God. I’m not saying once you accept Christ you become a perfect human that does everything for those in need and never says a cuss word when you slam your finger in the door. But what I am saying is that you change, that you have a heart towards the things and way of Christ and ultimately want to be like Him.
