Christ-like

I have recently been reading the book Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. It is really an amazing book, and it makes me think. I have been thinking about Christianity, love, life, and oh so much more. There is a part in the book about how he and some friends set up a confession booth one day. It wasn't so that people could confess to the Christians and be forgiven, it was so that as Christians they could confess and be forgiven. They confessed to not being perfect. They apologized for having done wrong things and for having been imperfect examples of Christ and giving Him a bad name. they apologized for the crusades and the judgement that so many Christians hold on others. I thought it was amazing really. We as Christians can get so caught up in ourselves and in how we are doing the right thing, and how we are saved, and forgiven and going to heaven, and how the rest of the world sucks because they are sinners and won't ask to be forgiven because they don't think they have done anything wrong. We judge when God clearly tells us that He is the only judge. We hold grudges just like the next guy. And, contrary to popular belief, we sin, yes, we sin, and no, not only on tuesdays. We gossip, we covet, we compare ourselves to others. We may not have sex with our boyfriend, we may not be having an affair, we may not have a crush on someone of the same sex as ourselves, but we are just as wrong. We are forgiven. Don't forget that. We are not perfect, just forgiven, because God, being full of His out-of-this-world type love and grace, grabbed our hearts and allowed us see where we had done wrong and where He desires for us to be mended, and then He went on to forgive us. We are called to love, not judge. We are called to love for the sake of loving, not for the sake of getting anything out of it. If we love everyone we meet, we are not losing anything. They may not come to know God, they may not ever step foot in a church, they might even commit suicide in 2 days, but we know that we loved them. If only for the moment that we knew them, we loved them as Christ loves us. So, from me to you, I ask your forgiveness for failing as an example of Christ. I have not been who I am called to be. I have not loved as I am called to love. I have judged when it is not my place to judge. But, with God's help and gentle, and sometimes not so gentle nudges and reminders along the way, I will hopefully, one day, be an example of the Christ-like person that I am called to be.