Yes, I am actually Fed UP! Not with control issues like the shirt implies, but with the Christian slogans I see pasted all over T-shirts at stores. I’ve been reading R.C. Sproul’s book “The Holiness of God.” He starts with the prophet Isaiah who has a vision of the throne room of God (Isaiah 6). As soon as he catches a glimpse of His majesty and glory, he falls to his face and says “Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips!”
That’s NOT what the average American church-goer seems to experience. I don’t see people falling down to worship the majesty of God nor give Him the honor that He deserves. Instead, I see a casual attitude (casual clothes are one thing, it’s the attitude I’m talking about) that bleeds over into a casual approach of Christianity and a cavalier handling of the Holy Bible. In the book, R.C. Sproul reminds us that “The idea of holiness is so central to biblical teaching that it is said of God, “Holy is his name” (Luke 1:49). His name is holy because He is holy. He is not always treated with holy reverence. His name is tramped through the dirt of this world. It functions as a curse word, a platform for the obscene. That the world has little respect for God is vividly seen by the way the world regards His name. No honor. No reverence. No awe before Him.”
This is one of the main reasons why I have had a difficult time with T-shirts that say “I love Jesus but I cuss a little” (by the way, I couldn’t even bring myself to add a photo of that one) or another one I saw someone actually wearing “I love Jesus but I drink a little”… or a lot?
What is that message saying about you? What is that message saying to others out there about what it means to be a Christian? I brought this up to a woman I know and she said with a smile on her face that I was “too judgmental and that you need to accept the fact that no one is as perfect as you.” First of all, I don’t think any true follower of Christ would ever say that they were perfect. In fact, most of us understand the need to be forgiven for the heinous sins we’ve committed against our Holy God and thus receive His mercy and grace. Secondly, why shouldn’t we judge those who say they are “Christians” yet treat Jesus’s name in that shameful manner (1 Corinthians 5:1-13). I don’t think you would EVER find a Muslim person wearing a shirt that says “I follow Muhammad but I cuss a little!” Blasphemous!
Why is it then considered to be self-righteous to condemn “cutesy” versions of false Christian doctrine? These are the very things that get repeated by others and catch on like “I am not a sinner because I have Jesus.” Well, we only need to go to the Bible to see 1 John 1:8 that says “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” It’s not just the T-shirts – it’s Christian Pop songs as well. There was one on the radio that made me wonder if the artist was singing about Jesus or her boyfriend (by the way, yes there is a T-shirt that also says something about Jesus being your BFF, Bro, or BAE). Horrid.
Before I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I had a great respect for Jesus as one of Allah’s prophets. I would have never thought to use his (or any other religious figure’s) name as an exclamation or use it in any way that would bring shame upon Allah, Islam or any of the prophets. When I became a Christian, I did not see this respect by many. There were some who regard Jesus as who He is – the second person of the Trinity, fully equal to God the Father. However, much to my distress, there were the majority who did not seem to have this type of reverence. I was surprised one morning when a woman brought her cup of coffee into the sanctuary… I thought when you were in the sanctuary to worship, you were supposed to be in the presence of God Himself? I would never think to bring in my coffee cup to come into the presence of a CEO for work, much less bring it in to worship the maker of the heavens and the earth.
Where is the reverence gone? Is it because of the secular approach to Jesus? Is it because we focus more at Christmas time on Santa than on Christ? Is it because we think about his humble birth as a baby and less (if not at all) about the price he paid on the cross for the remission of our sins? Should we continue to watch as we and other Christians continue to sin without remorse?
Let’s start holding one another ACCOUNTABLE as Christians. Let’s stop conforming to the standards of the world and be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2). We are all sinful, that’s true BUT we should still be working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12) and not have a casual attitude about things that might cause others to stumble. I want to end with another thought by R.C. Sproul:
“The simplistic way of not conforming is to see what is in style in our culture and then do the opposite. If short hair is in vogue, the nonconformist wears long hair. If going to the movies is popular, then Christians avoid movies as “worldly.” The extreme case of this may be seen in groups that refuse to wear buttons or use electricity because such things, too, are worldly. A superficial style of nonconformity is the classical Pharisaical trap. The kingdom of God is not about buttons, movies, or dancing. The concern of God is not focused on what we eat or what we drink. The call of nonconformity is a call to a deeper level of righteousness, that goes beyond externals. When piety is defined exclusively in terms of externals, the whole point of the apostle’s teaching has been lost. Somehow we have failed to hear Jesus’ words that it is not what goes into a person’s mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of that mouth. We still want to make the kingdom a matter of eating and drinking.”
― R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God
This Christmas, the best gift you could give yourself, your friends and your family is to ask them to hold you accountable and to ask the Lord for forgiveness for treating things that are His without the respect that He deserves. That is also my own challenge and daily prayer. Amen.
