Reflections Along the Jesus Way
November 7, 2023 – Quote for the Day
“Some churches include public testimonies in their services – really juicy personal stories told by someone who used to be really bad, but now that person has repented. It’s called their testimony – and when it comes time for salacious testimonies some sit there in the church and think ‘God, I thank you I’ve never been that bad.’
I don’t mean to say that some church-goers are not genuinely delighted when God dramatically and miraculously, by his grace, transforms someone’s life. Of course, I believe the reaction of real Christians, in whom Christ lives, is closer to ‘there but for the grace of God go I.’
The ‘them versus us’ game is an inherited spiritual virus – an innate desire we have to elevate our own spiritual standing by favorably comparing ourselves with someone who seems to us to be a loser and a failure. This spiritual virus causes us to compare ourselves (and thus to feel good about ourselves) with someone we feel is a much greater sinner than we are. Sure, we admit we’re sinners, but not that bad!”
Originally published in:
A Taste of Grace – Christianity Without the Religion
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