Dear "Christians"...
Of Dresses , Monks, and Presidential Hubris (Kinda)
There’s so much I want to say, but I don’t even know where to start.
Lord, help me say this correctly…
Mind you, I’m not worried about being offensive. The think pieces I’ve had the misfortune of reading over the past week or so make it very clear that nobody is concerned about that either. What I want is to get what’s been sitting on my chest off so I can breathe because the way some of us (and by US I mean people who say they follow Jesus and profess Him as their Lord and Savior) have completely obliterated, decimated, and otherwise annihilated whatever witness they had is giving me anxiety.
Or maybe I’m just pissed off.
And not just regular pissed off; the pissed off that makes me want to throw MY witness out the window so I can also call people out their name with the same vitriolic surety that folks will question whether I actually ever believed or practiced what my social media bio says I believe or so-called practice. I really want to be like some of y’all…
Lord, help me say this meaningfully…
I’m not going to address the last item in the subtitle because I’m not well-versed enough to enter into the arena of political dogma, and I honestly have no desire to be. I’ll leave that to the analysts with experience and degrees to banter with the keyboard gangsters with minimal critical thinking skills. And I’m not going to address the second item either because that needs and deserves its own post, especially when someone says to me,” Based on what I’ve seen from Christians, I’d rather be Buddhist.”
What I am going to tackle is item one, and let me be clear. This isn’t about “The Dress.”
Y’ALL have me ready to swing, and I don’t even know the woman. And you know what woman I’m referring to.
But God said, “Write what I say, not what you want to write.” So here’s what came to me in my quiet time.
John 8:7
Luke 6:37
Matthew 7:12
Matthew 12:36
Especially Matthew 12:36.
Some of Y’ALL have gotten flip at the mouth and think you won’t have to answer for the words that you say. Somehow, you believe you can call anyone what you want, how you want, when you want, and God is just gonna be okay with it.
And I’m not even talking about clergy. I’m talking about little ol you.
Shut up.
Shut up talking. Shut up, judging. Shut up, holding court and parading your opinions around as facts.
When you go on to glory (if that is indeed where you’re heading) and Jesus pulls out the transcript of your life, what are you gonna say? How are you going to explain the words you let so flippantly fly out of your mouth?
And not in this situation. Every situation where you felt emboldened enough to say what was on your mind because “you were keeping it real.” What exactly did you say in your prayer time? What did you ask God for? With the same mouth you labeled people with…
Oh, add James 3:10
But thank y’all. Thank y’all for being fine examples of what I shouldn’t do and who I shouldn’t be. Thank you for forcing me to repent for the moments I acted like you. Thank you for the reminder that WWJD was and is more than a bumper sticker or cute saying.
WWJD?
Surely not what I’ve seen done.