Who Is This Really About?

      Welcome to the most selfish time of year, when adults turn into children on Christmas day hoping to get the toy they've been dreaming of since the day after their birthday. Votes are going left and right--everyone has an opinion. Everyone has the "right" opinion. People are kicking and screaming, to the point I hardly recognize them as human.
      But to what end? What gain comes from all this? This battle must be won and it's all about our personal victory. From what I've seen, this nation is on the brink of tragedy and great disaster--there are people killing each other over silly things like ethnicity and offense, terrorists trying to destroy us, a corrupted government full of liars and cheaters.
      And then there's us. We the people. Getting angry at people who have an opinion that's different then ours, shunning our dear companions for not believing "right." But we are above justice. We are the government--sovereign in this race. It's up to us. But the thing is, when did running our government become more important then loving people? How is throwing your views out at people over social media helping? Did you ever realize these are image bearers of Christ, who deserve at least a bit of respect.
      In a broken and dying world what makes you think your self-centered fight will do any good, if you can't even manage to live by them anyways. Your fighting a battle but you're using the enemies weapons! There's this quote circling around about how Presidents can't take the place of our one and only Savior, I've seen it shared from time to time, but the problem is most of those people are pretty positive that they're safe, going to heaven, no big deal. Next minute them and their self-righteousness are off killing people with their words. Don't be so ignorant! We the people has turned into We the Hypocrites!
      This has gone too far. We follow bias that agrees with our standards and defend it with our dying breath. Madness. What would it look like if you spent a second to listen to someone else's views? What if we showed love and made peace with our "enemies?" Are you too far above that? Why is no one listening anymore? My mom always said God gave you two ears, one mouth--I think this should be implicated more often.
      Here's another thought: would you fend Jesus and the Bible with the same zeal as you defend taxing propositions and Donald Trump? If you can't honestly answer yes then I really don't see how anything else you say can carry any weight of who He is. Who is this really about?

Pro-Acceptance

      Here's the deal right now: there's a lot of religion happening in the church right now. Please don't take offense or anything like that, just hear out my response.
      My response says pain: look at me and tell me I'm enough. Tell me that Jesus loves me even though I live my everyday full of sin. Please don't condemn me or make me feel like I'm "wrong" for fumbling. Why do I feel the need to hide my issues from the people who are supposed to love me through them? When I'm feeling depressed and tell my Pastor that I'm fine, it shows me that we've portrayed something wrong. that something got missed in the community side of our church. When I am wondering what drugs or sex might be like, who's there to tell me I need to think through it. Who's going to ask me if all is well?
      My response says rebel: If you don't think I'm good enough, then why should I even bother? What difference does it make if I follow your rules or not? Clearly it's going to be a close call whether I "make it" or not. Might as well just settle that one. What does it matter if I show up or not? Why would I get ready and go somewhere that I don't even want to be. It all does me no good anyway.
      My response says distance: I'm not going to go somewhere that doesn't accept me and doesn't think the things I do are meeting "quota," because that's not what it's even about. I may be a kid who doesn't know much, but I know enough that I won't sit here and listen to your religion. I want something more then you're giving, and I will go find it somewhere else.

      Here's the deal. I don't think this is such a rare occasion. If I forgot to read my Bible one day I would get down on myself. If I didn't respond right, I'd be down on myself. Anything that wasn't perfect or up to "performance level," it didn't matter what it was and I was always down on myself.
       Am I against the church in all of this, no. I'm against pain, rebellion, distance. But really it's about what I'm for. I'm pro-acceptance. Pro-encouragement. Pro-love. And most of all, I am pro-raw-beautiful-vulnerable-people. I just want you to know today that whatever you did, done, or will do--it's okay. Simple as that. I don't care that you've done things, but I do care about you. As long as you know that I will make mistakes--I will probably mess up a lot, and I want that to be okay in this world full of judgement and chaos--and as long as I know this grace thing goes both ways, don't you think it could work? Just a thought.