faith.

I don't think I've shared it yet here on the blog, but I think it's high time I did.

I'm a Christian.

Some of you reading that may shudder, cringe, click the "x" button, rejoice, smile, cry (ok maybe not all that) but regardless, everyone's view of Christianity is different and I understand both sides.

I take being a "Christian" as meaning that I am a follower of Jesus Christ and I believe in the work He did not just on the cross, but in his entire lifetime on Earth. I believe He is the son of God and that's a pretty mighty thing. I also believe that without His ultimate sacrifice, I would be forced to face God's wrath for the sin nature I most certainly have. Pretty radical sounding, right?

That's because it is.

Jesus was radical. People didn't like him because he stood for things that went against what they had always held as truth and law. More than anything, I think, people didn't like him because he loved every human being. Every. Single. One.

The tax collector, the prostitute, the thief, the murderer, the liar, the cheat, the self-loathing, the envious, the greedy. The sinner, the broken.
He wanted all of us.

Lately, I've really been rolling the concept of God's love for His people around in my head and it truly is remarkable. In the many years I've gone to church now (as both a believer and non-believer), I've been preached to over and over again about how God's love for us is spectacular and unbelievable but it's never really sunk in. He sent Jesus to Earth to allow every man and woman to inherit eternal life and to actually turn their earthly life into something beautiful. And now it's starting to really hit me.

Going back to what I believe in.
I do not believe in shaming or putting others down. I don't believe in one person being better than any one else. I don't believe in shaking my fist at "sinners" (because God truly knows I am a big one). I don't believe in taking a conservative, right-wing Republican stance on everything political "in the name of the Bible" and putting down anything and everything liberal. I don't believe in trying to be perfect because if I could be perfect there would be no need for grace.

I do believe in loving people and helping them and investing in them as Christ would have, and creating lasting relationships. I do believe in striving to be like "little Christ's" and seeking not our own will, but God's. I believe in grace and mercy and something a whole heck of a lot bigger than I am.

So now it's all out there. Some thoughts put into words on faith.

xx, Charity