I wasn't raised in a traditional household that made me get up on Sundays and attend church. I wasn't taught bible stories and I didn't recite scripture. We began attending regularly later around the time I was a teenager but I was forced and didn't really enjoy it. I didn't get anything out of it and back then as a teenager, it was of course all about me. Plus I felt that churches were full of hypocrites, at least that is what everyone said.
According to Merriam-Webster a hypocrite is a person who claims or pretends to have certain beliefs about what is right but who behaves in a way that disagrees with those beliefs.
During my college years and beyond I would attend a church every now and then. I sat in the back, listened to what the preacher had to say and agreed with some of it and disagreed with some of it. I may go back or I may not. It didn't matter.
I didn't have a very good foundation of religion and being able to make up my mind as a adult meant I never had to make up my mind- this is why I take my kids to church now.
But why in the world would I attend church? It's full of people that are fake and think they are better than everyone. Like there is some secret that they have figured out when really they are just drinking the Kool-Aid.
If you have ever said, "Churches are full of hypocrites." You are correct. It is.
Have you ever been thirsty? I mean thirsty like you just ran 10 miles and feel as if you don't have something to drink you might die? People that attend church are thirsty. Their souls are needy and their sprits are broken. They are so thirsty they have fallen to their knees and wept because they don't know how to handle their addiction anymore. They are so thirsty they have had to pull over on the side of the road because the tears in their eyes are too much to drive.
Church is full of people that are adulterers and addicts and alcoholics. People that judge and swear and made messes of their lives.
If they were perfect, they wouldn't need to go to church.
Their souls are dehydrated. And one day they walked into a church and sat in the back quietly and listened to what they preacher had to say. Some of it made sense and some of it was strange. When it was over a few people shook their hand and said please come back. So the next Sunday when this person was just a little less thirsty and spent their week wondering about what that preacher was talking about, they got dressed and went back to church. They sat quietly in the back and listened to the preacher. When it was over a few more people came by to say hello and told them to please come back. And they did. This is the beginning of a persons spiritual journey. A small step to the back pew of church.
They still had addiction, money problems, or martial issues. Those things didn't just go away. But they kept going to church on Sunday and drinking the kool-aid or Grace-orade as I like to call it, and it began to quench their thirst. They still had problems, they still weren't perfect but they still kept sitting on the back pew each Sunday and listening.
You don't have to be perfect to attend church. You just have to go. Your spiritual journey is just like any other. You learn and grow and it takes time to develop trust and relationships but it will happen. You just have to keep going and trying to be more like Jesus.Those are big shoes to fill. But the good news is nobody expects you to fill His shoes, just keep going and keep trying and learning and asking questions.
If you have walked into a church and felt judged and alone and you hated it and left, I am sorry. This is not how all churches are and that is a poor example of a Christian church family. Remember when you were 15 and you had that boyfriend that was so awesome and then one day he disappointed you and you decided you hated him forever? Well you didn't stop looking for a better one. That one had its own issues and wasn't for you but that doesn't mean there isn't the perfect one out there for you.
So for those of you that so freely judge church goers that make the decision to give their lives to the Lord and become Christians but don't act like it in every aspects of their lives I say, "Shame on you."
We all need grace and forgiveness which is where the source of our thirst comes from. We need to fall to our knees and say, if there is anything out there greater than me, then please help me. I am a liar, a cheater, a judge of others, an addict. I don't know how to stop.
I often behave in a way that disagrees with my beliefs and with things church is trying to teach me, so I keep learning. I keep going back. I give myself a break and remember that I am not perfect but I am trying. You just have to try.
To that old man in your neighborhood that yells at the kids to stay off his driveway but attends church each Sunday or your uncle that was addicted to drugs for years and wasn't there for his kids and now attends church on Sunday or to you whoever you are out there and wherever you are in your spiritual journey just know you a probably a hypocrite because people can't see you today, how you are NOW and people can't see how hard you are trying. Plus some people have a hard time letting go of their miserable company so you have to be okay with being called names or its going to cripple your relationship with the Lord.
Because what people can't see is what they don't know. They don't know that the old man in your neighborhood lost his son and never recovered. He never asked for help or grieved and when his wife died soon after he became bitter and angry and he is trying to do better now. You don't know that your uncle has an enormous guilt ghost from his younger years that follows him each day and tells him what a screw up he was and how many lives he has messed up and that he will never be enough. So he goes to church to try and repent for a little bit of his shame.
You are NEVER going to live the life of a perfect Christian and you will never keep people from calling you names. But what you have to know is that God doesn't care about any of that. He only cares about YOUR heart.
I think people worry too much about what others think of them. Stop doing this.
You can't sacrifice your eternal salvation and a wonderful relationship with God because you worry how others will react, treat you, say about you. Doesn't that seem so silly?
For those of you that feel you don't need God and you don't need church, I say to you how amazing it must feel to be able to do life alone. To never be thirsty. To have your soul so filled up by whatever earthly things you have purchased that you don't need any of this. To be so perfect.
So the next time your Aunt Gladys pulls you aside at the family reunion to talk about Jesus when all you wanted to do was get some more kool-aid, sit with her and listen. Forget about the mistakes she has made and continues to make because she is trying every time she goes back on Sunday. She has witnessed first hand how trying and listening can change your soul and heal your spirit. She isn't a perfect Christian. She may not even be a very good Christian but she wants to be. And what she needs is your support and not your judgments. So instead of cutting her off to grab a cup of Kool-Aid, listen to her and believe what she is telling you and you may find yourself enjoying a cup of the grace-orade instead.
Alison Wright is a member of a small church of believers in Coronaca, SC. They put up with her bad jokes and loud laughter and let her teach music during VBS even though she always forgets the dance moves. She quietly sits next to Mr. Pinson three rows from the back and listens to what the preacher has to say. She has never been more hydrated.
