When Christians Judge Others...

The infamous Ann Rice recently blogged that she was giving up on Christianity. Her main reason was that Christians were judgmental and did not live like the Jesus we claim to follow. Truth is we are often guilty of this charge. Some of the most hard to get along with people I know are church people. Maybe it's because we have high expectations and think everybody should be more like Jesus than we ever achieve ourselves. Maybe it's easier to judge others than take the time to get to know them and love them anyway. Bottom line is we should not judge others, only Christ alone is worthy to be the judge of someone's soul and value. Ann Rice may have been right about our shortcomings yet she was WRONG about her need for the church. We need fellow believers most of all in our brokenness. We need to learn how to love each other as Christ first loved us. We need to pray for, learn from and hold each other accountable. Jesus commanded his followers to be "his body." We can ONLY do this by being a part of His church.

No local church, no denomination, no pastor and no disciple is perfect or without sin and weaknesses. My church members know many of my flaws and mistakes and I know many of theirs. Christ calls us to love each other just like he loves us, warts and all. I need imperfect Christian brothers and sisters and so do you. Ann Rice has missed Jesus' point - I pray some of her Christian friends will now love her back into trusting the church once more. For her sake and the body's sake as well.