Struggles

I know that it has been too long since I last posted. I took a break partly because of the holidays. I thought that people would be out of their normal routine, so they would probably not have time for the blogosphere. I confess however that I have also been lacking in inspiration. I have signed in to my account several times and even started writing different post, but hit various brick walls along the way. However, there have been some things that have been troubling me that I want you to chew on.

James 2:1-4 says, "My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say,'Here's a good seat for you,' but say to the poor man,'You stand there' or 'Sit on the floor by my feet,' have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges of evil thoughts?" I would like to say that I hope that you question the church. Before you that off as heresy out of ignorance, read on. There are some things you should question in order to say that it is blatanlty wrong and in order to refute it. When your science teacher, collegue, or as sad as it might be, a fellow christian tells you that evolution is real, you should question that in order to refute and destroy it. However, there are some things, like the church that you should question in order to improve it, make it better, and ultimately bring in closer to what Christ envisioned the church to be. Some great christians in the past have questioned the church and made it better. One easy example is that of Martin Luther. I will not get into everything here but the church at his time was definitely doing things that weren't scripturally founded. He questioned those things and helped to change those things in order to better align with scripture.
Think about the church that you attend. If you do not attend church I want you to think about what your perception of the church is. How does your church measure up in applying this passage in James? If you asked one in church about whether they show favoritism, whether it be racially or economically, everyone would probably answer no. This answer given compared to the actual diversity of people may not match up. My fear is that we do not apply this passage in James very well. How would people react if someone that was in worn out clothes and had an interesting aroma came in? I'm not sure. I think people would be receptive on the outside but I wonder how uncomfortable it would be on the inside. Jesus spent His time with these type people. He loved them and didn't reject them because of what they had done or the state that they were in but rather showed them a new way; the way. I look at American Christianity and am worried about its correlation with scripture. It seems to safe, to clean, and too exclusive. These are just a few questions and thoughts I have been having. I want Christ to be the center of all. I want his bride to be exactly how He envisioned it to be. I want to truly understand what it means to live like Christ.