Many Christians like to wear t-shirts proclaiming who they are. I do not. But my reasons for this are not noble. Here is what goes through my judgmental little mind when I see a Jesus bumper sticker or shirt. “Look at how they drive! Look at how they act in line at HEB. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. And they have the gall to wear that shirt. 🤦🏻‍♀️ They are the poster child for atheism!”

So since I could be a poster child for atheism at any one point in my day-to-day life, I cannot and will not wear the Christian swag. But, in reality, can any of us? We are all so far from perfect. And most of us are far from joyful except maybe when we are filled with spirits that are not so Holy. How are we any different? None of us can live sinlessly and joyfully all the time. We are all repellant for recruitment into the faith at some point in our day.

Have you ever tried to live a perfect day? It is painstaking and joyless work watching our own thoughts and actions every second of the day. In a book by Steve Brown called Scandalous Freedom, he calls out Christians that are faking it. He says we are not living in the freedom that Christ gave us and we bind ourselves to things like rule-following perfectionism, sacrificing the joy that Christ followers were given. The author says we are wearing masks that we think the church people ought to wear to be acceptable. And he says that those masks are the very thing that repel folks from Christianity. After all, who wants to live a joyless life of rule following?

In the aforementioned book, the author says Christ followers need to focus less on sinning and more on Christ. He says we are still sinners and when we try to pretend we are not, we lose our freedom and joy. We will always lose in the battle for perfection in the eyes of the world. So quit trying. Quit beating yourself up because you don’t fit the Christian profile. Quit chasing joy and let it catch up with you.

The point is that Christ set us free when we humble ourselves and cry out to Him. He didn’t remove our penchant for sinning, He forgives them and covers them with His perfection. This makes us perfect in His eyes even though in reality we are riddled with sin. And His, is the only opinion that matters. In that, there is joy! In that, there is freedom. It is joy and freedom that makes folks want what we have, not a life of rule-following. So are Christians really any different? I have found the answer to be, “Christians are not better, they are forgiven.” I believe that saying is on a Christian t-shirt.

Galatians 5:1 MSG
[1] Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.