Christianity is Doable!

So lately I have come across a ton of Facebook statuses and shared blog posts from christians and they are really bothering me. Statuses from christian parents that state things such as our kids aren’t allowed to wear bikinis, say butt, wear skirts above the knee, cut their hair a certain way, etc. Then there are the like-minded blogs that are being shared like wildfire about why christian women shouldn’t wear bikinis, shouldn’t wear leggings, shouldn’t drink alcohol, watch R rated movies, etc.

To throw my disclaimer out there, I just want to say that I don’t agree or disagree with all of these things and if you believe any of these things and raise your children in these ways, GREAT!!!! Everyone has their own convictions and every christian has different ways of raising children and living life. We should all follow biblical principles and listen to what the word of God tells us. However, our main purpose on this earth is to “Go into the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15.

“Go into the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.” — Mark 16:15

My pastor once said something that has changed my thinking in a lot of ways. He said “Perception is reality”. To someone who perceives something, whether in the right or wrong way, it is reality. If your perception is that its cold outside when it is 70 degrees then to you it is cold, but to someone else they might perceive it is hot. Neither are wrong or right, it is just their own perception and their own reality.
We, as christians trying to reach lost people, need to be extra aware of the perception we are giving to those that are lost. To me, when we say “you can’t, you can’t, you can’t”  or ” we have to, we have to, we have to”we are turning nonbelievers away from the appeal of God and all his goodness. For example, a non believer now has their news feed blowing up with Christians sharing a blog article about how we shouldn’t wear leggings because it may cause a man to stumble. First off that is not all true, if we are covered and modest I think we are doing our best, Jesus died so that we can be free and not live under the “laws” and I refuse to create more so that Jesus died in vein. Also the “perception” we are giving non- believers is that you have to give up on fashion and wear colorless moo moos to be a christian. If you wear anything that is in style someone somewhere is going to look at you inappropriately. Now I am not saying you should have your behind hanging out and shouldn’t dress modest, but cute and modest can co-exist. I feel as though leggings do just that, cover all “should be covered” areas yet are very comfortable and stylish.

I think it is awesome when people post scripture and post how they do things for the fact that it gives everyone an alternate perspective and can also give people new ideas about how to raise kids, dress etc. We just need to be very careful how we are perceived. Christianity is easy because of our savior Jesus Christ. We all have a need for a savior. There is not a day that goes by that every person on this earth doesn’t need a Savior. As Christians we stumble, we fall short, yet we don’t post these things. We feel we have to post how good of a christian we really are. We have to stop all these petty law shoving debates that have nothing to do with People’s salvation. Go into the world and preach the GOSPEL, not the laws.

The perception we are giving is that we are perfect. We get judged when a non-believer sees a believer sin. Why? because we on our own have given that perception. We need to start being real. Letting the world know that we fall short as much as the rest of them and the only difference in us and a non-believer is that we have hope, we have a relationship with the creator who helps talk us down from the ledge, and we have an eternity with him. Short of that we are all the same. Christianity shouldn’t be seen as hard. My kids say butt, and fart, and poop. Especially my boys. Guess what, They are still going to heaven. My daughter is allowed to wear a bikini. she is going to heaven. I wear leggings (and LOVE them) and I am going to heaven. We all do our best, we shouldn’t make Christianity seem so hard or so unobtainable, We should be sharing about how God is amazing, how he loves us, how we all need a savior, how grateful I am for Jesus coming to end the religious laws that we can’t all follow. We need to give the perception that Christianity is doable! Not just doable, but enjoyable, easy, desirable, and worth it all!!!

Living Life Unleashed,

DC