Friday 5 November 2010

oops, i broke it

These two articles rhyme a little with my last post or at least echo some of my frustrations living in a different culture and how that can easily bring out the worst in you.

Brokenness as a bridge
Attentive to Brokennes

We had an interesting discussion in homegroup this week about how a lot of churches in the west (and probably here in Kenya too) are more about performance and good behaviour than about having honest hearts that are desperate for God and His Kingdom. Christians should be seen to be good people, you need to show that you believe in Jesus by stopping all your sin. How the heck are you meant to do that?

I like that these two articles recognise our brokenness, they do not celebrate sin but see the connections that can be made between people when we share our broken parts and the areas that need some work rather than hide them.

2 comments:

Jon Parsons said...

In my humble opinion, we're not meant to do that.

By that I refer to "Christians should be seen to be good people, you need to show that you believe in Jesus by stopping all your sin".

It's a Holy Spirit thing, and in my experience, the more we desire to be like God, to be with God, to have God flowing out of every part of us (could get messy), the more holy and sinless we become. It's not about us trying not to sin, it's about us earnestly wanting to have more of God and His Spirit in us.

When we desire that, and keep on desiring that, the desire to sin reduces.

Em Schmee said...

I humbly agree Jon and I hoped I was communicating that in this blog. Unfortunatly though I think some church cultures are producing Christians who feel like they need to look like good people more than genuinely seeking God and His holiness. White-washed tomb syndrome.