WHOLE-HEARTEDLY HIS

“You’re not a Christian if …” and “I don’t know how you can say you’re a Christian and …”

I see these statements everywhere these days, and they are breaking my heart.

Friends, I can be a Christian with whole-hearted devotion to Christ and years of studying the Bible and still:

—Vote for a different candidate than you do

—Support different legislation than you do

—Attend a church with differing theology than yours

And I am still a Christian. Friends, please, stop using these phrases. They have no place in winning hearts for Jesus. They have no place among His believers, either. Christ Himself instructed us on the most important aspects of our faith:

“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:36-40

Furthermore, we learn that belief in Jesus is the key to our salvation.

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. 
As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:9-13

I don’t see political or denominational differences anywhere in these verses, do you? When we believe we have all the right answers, and anyone who doesn’t believe exactly as we do is inherently “wrong,” rest assured we have crossed the line into spiritual pride.

But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off.
You are just a branch, not the root.
“Well,” you may say, “those branches were broken off to make room for me.” 
Yes, but remember—those branches were broken off because they didn’t believe in Christ, and you are there because you do believe. So don’t think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen. For if God did not spare the original branches, he won’t spare you either.

Romans 11:18-21

None of us can boast, because we are all saved by the same grace and belief in Christ. It’s called the great mystery of faith because it is just that: a great mystery. Not one of us holds all the answers this side of heaven. Please stop pretending as if you do. It demoralizes countless potential, new, and mature believers. And I am one of them.

We are all just walking one another home. We can make that journey enjoyable, and we can invite as many people as we can to walk alongside us; or, we can grasp hands, enclose our little circle, and avoid eye contact with those on the sidelines. Jesus did a great deal of His ministry while walking around, and I know He would land in that former group. If/then statements will always land us in trouble as Christians because they are statements designed to exclude, and Jesus aimed to include as many as possible. These statements scream to the world that your particular beliefs corner the only market on salvation, goodness, and rightness with God. That’s entirely impossible. And wholly prideful.

If God wanted us to be carbon copies of one another, He would have duplicated us instead of creating us each uniquely from scratch. Let’s embrace our differences and celebrate the creativity of our God, instead of lauding “sameness” and using it to ostracize others. We serve a massive, incomprehensible, magnificently loving God. Let’s bring Him honor by loving His people—all people— in the same way He loves us.

Whole-Heartedly His,

Nicki