If there is one lesson that needs to learned and learned well in today's culture it is that of consistency. With social media, cameras on every phone and the ease of hacking into websites and private information it has become incredibly easy to find out if one is being consistent between their actions and their words today. The few exceptions to this rule must spend considerable money protecting their inconsistency, but for the rest of us it is important to understand that in this age if we get into the public eye at all, we will be held accountable for our actions and our words. For Christians this is particularly important because hypocrites has long been the excuse for unbelievers to avoid churches and other places where they might hear the gospel, and now it is even being used as a weapon to attack the ethical views held by many Christian institutions. The problem with consistency however is that not many people want to be consistent. In the book of Luke when Jesus first begins his ministry and reads from the book of Isaiah the people around him are amazed, but when begins to talk about mercy being shown to the gentiles the crowds turns on Jesus and tries to throw him off a cliff. They were okay with receiving mercy from God, but they did not want this mercy shown to other people who were not like them. I have known a few Christians who share this same point of view, understanding that God has forgiven them of their sins, but wishing that God would not forgive someone else who they viewed as worse. Perhaps the most glaring problem of inconsistency within the church today however is when people say a phrase but their actions, and beliefs do not stand by that phrase in the least. Let me give an example. One of my primary criticisms of the CBF (Cooperative Baptist Fellowship) is that while they claim to believe in the authority of scripture, they also maintain that one may interpret the Bible any way they choose, even if this interpretation is diametrically opposed to someone else's interpretation of scripture including how people in the Bible interpreted a particular passage. So the question becomes, "how can the Bible be authoritative if everyone can have a different meaning to what it is saying?" The answer is it cannot, but here we see the problem. The CBF claims to believe in the authority of scripture, but once that claim is examined along with their other claims we learn that is does not carry any weight. Such inconsistencies are not limited to the Christians however. It is a common joke about politicians claiming to be for one thing, but in their actions and the policies they push for reveal that they are not for that at all. There are thousands of examples of people being inconsistent in either their actions, beliefs, and/or words, but what do we as Christians do about this? It is clear that Jesus was for Christians being consistent because he commanded that our yes be our yes and our no be our no. We continue to this same thought carried through Paul's letters where he rebukes churches such as the one in Corinth for being inconsistent as well as when Paul rebuked Peter. Because Christianity is truth Christians should be the most consistent people of them all. I believe it for this reason that it stings that much more to the world when we see examples of Christians being inconsistent. It is one thing to see thousands of men being caught having affairs, but it stings worse if we were to learn of just 4 pastors having affairs. I can already hear some of you typing asking the question, "So are we suppose to be perfect? That's impossible!" I didn't say that we should be perfect I said we should be consistent, or more specifically we should be more consistent within Christianity. Christians are called to uphold the law, but we also understand that we will fail in this calling and in fact we will fail over and over, and yet many times Christians try to maintain a sense of perfection to the world. We sweep sinful actions under the rug, and try to move on without letting too much attention be on that sinful person, this comes at the great cost of the world not really seeing the power of the gospel, which is God's power to forgive humanity. While we should strive every single day to be more like Christ and love God and neighbor more, we must confess our sins when we do sin, and mourn over how our actions have hurt others, and offended God, but then we should rejoice in forgiveness we and/or other Christians receive from God and celebrate their repentance. This is consistent Christianity, it is biblical Christianity. What do you think? Comment below and let me know!
1 Comment
2/22/2020 12:23:16 am
If you want to be a complete person, then consistency is important. You cannot just do your best from time-to-time, you need to be more consistent. I think that consistency is what drives people to success. I mean, just look at a player like Michael Jordan. Every night, Michael Jordan performed like he was the best player, and that is what made people realize that he was the best player day in and day out. I hope that you find consistency too.
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