OH LORD SAVE US FROM YOUR FOLLOWERS


I am not one of those Christians who believes that God is some powerless being out there in the cosmos who needs me to fight for or defend him. Neither do I think that I ought to fight any sceptic over what I believe.

So naturally my first instinct was to laugh out loud when I heard this quote. In my view, Christianity is not a set of do’s or don’ts limiting an individual- I don’t think that Christ came so that I can stop watching my favourite fringe series or eating a good plate of Mediterranean cuisine. Christ did not come to introduce different denominations or to make one religion greater than the rest. I think that his mission on earth was more deliberate, a well thought out course of action to restore humanity back to what God had intended it to be from the beginning.

However, lately I have thought about this quote with more intensity and a set of brand new eyes. I have questioned the light in which the church has portrayed God to the world. Fortunately and unfortunately, God has chosen to use such weak and broken vessels and will seldom explain to the world why his people make heinous mistakes. We curse those we should bless and discriminate against those that Christ wants closest. This is not the God I have come to know now more than ever!

My journey with God is a love story like no other- It was love at first sight. Only in this case, I could not see or touch him, but he was more real to me than anyone or anything. It has been one of failings and victories, ups and downs and fumbling through, as it is with all relationships world over. I am not exempt from the great losses of life or the emotional hurts, or the deep disappointments that plague me. Many times I have questioned my allegiance to a God who has allowed me to cry severally through the nights and in my own opinion needs to learn a thing or two about how to run the world! This has made for many aha moments when things unfold and I find that I had it all twisted. But that does not ease the pain of war torn countries or hungry babies or of death and desolation....it does not change the fact that we are in dire need of a permanent solution to the problems that plague this world.

A recent study I undertook on the gospels portrayed Jesus Christ not as a judgemental, high and might deity as we are often taught. Neither did I see him as a puny, weak willed human being. On the contrary, I saw him as compassionate yet strong, able to draw the line between sin and holiness yet needing of love. He was by no means the sissy many think him to be. His closest cronies were ruffians, but to be fair, the Gentiles were not considered cream of the crop. Jesus Christ was spontaneous and he was a man fully in touch with his emotions. He was not one to shy away from a loud cry when he felt the need to, or jubilance when it was needed. Once he whipped some traders- that is not the picture of a wimp. Christ was fully man and fully God- and he was perfect in all ways.

If we purport to follow Christ how come we look nothing like our teacher? I think we need to re-sit some classes if that is the case, and there need be no shame in that, being in the school of a God who is not performance oriented but is keener on real transformation. God is calling us to heart change, more than behaviour change. If you change your heart and mind on something, behaviour follows naturally. I must be honest here; Christians are not perfect; if we were, there would be no need for God but there needs to be a true representation of the kingdom we serve under. What startles me is the many masks we wear in a bid to hide our inadequacies. Because I struggle with something does not make me worthless, it just affirms my humanity and my need for God.

Individuals who genuinely need God have been turned away from many churches because they do not fit the status quo. Of course they do not fit in and for that reason Christ came! It’s only the sick who need a doctor, so how can we decide for God who is deserving or who is not? We have even categorised sin: sexual sin, smoking, partying, drinking. Anything else is not that bad but we forget that Christ in many instances speaks against keeping appearances yet inside we harbour hate, bitterness, unforgiveness, and lies. It seems that our focus has shifted. When someone falls into sexual sin they are not allowed to teach in church for a few months till the sin is paid for, but when someone lies they are allowed to go on with work- Is there anything like a big sin? Is all sin equal?

Karl Max is quoted as saying that Religion is the opium of the masses. I disagree. Faith should not be used as a pain reliever, on the contrary, God calls us to look straight into our pain and inadequacies and then give them over to him so that he can help us. He calls us to a life of honest vulnerability with fellow Christians- one that is hard to imagine because we easily run to judge than to embrace. I believe that one day the Church as a body of faith and not the religious outfit we call it, will rise above and fully take on the nature that God intended it to have from the start. One of feeding the poor, taking care of the widows and orphans, embracing the outcasts and doing what really matters in making a difference in this decaying world.

I find, from my own experiences at the hands of fellow believers saying, Oh Lord save me from your followers, but I realise that I too am a follower of Christ, so tonight I rewrite this quote: Oh Lord save me from myself.