Exceptions, Excuses, and Contradictions

I was sitting on Facebook the other night, when someone struck up a conversation with me.  Amidst this conversation the person went on to tell me that they were going to be playing in a worship band the following evening.  I thought this was really neat so we began chatting about stuff God related.  This person then came out with an interesting comment - seemingly out of the blue - he said "I am a hypocritical Christian though."  Pause.  What?  I sat in shock for a few moments wondering what to say next.  So I asked the logical thing that anyone would ask next.... "why do you say that?" More pause.  Because, he went on to tell me, I like to drink.  Again, I had to chew this over and ask God for some help with how to continue on this conversation.  Then he proceeded to tell me how, in his opinion, he did not believe getting drunk was a sin (which is neither here nor there at this point), how he could do "worse" things, and how compared to everyone else, he was a pretty good guy.

I am more interested in what he said rather then the issue he was discussing.

In our culture today, it is so incredibly common for us to make "exceptions," "excuses," and contradictions.
If we truly loved Jesus the way we should, would we still make these exceptions, excuses, and contradictions?

The first thing that hit me was - "I'm a hypocritical Christian."
This was interesting because for the last few months I have been feeling frustrated with those people that "believe but don't follow."  And now this guy was admitting that he was that way.  I wasn't sure what to do.
I feel as though many of us are stuck in this rut of "hypocritical Christianity," or as you have heard me refer to it "Christian Atheism."  Its a dangerous root.  Because we get comfortable just doing the believing portion, and not following it out.  I know I used to be stuck here.  But my question was, if he didn't feel that 'getting drunk' was a sin, then why would he call himself a hypocritical Christian?  Interesting.

The second thing that hit me was - "I could do worse things."
Well of course you could!  But it seems like a pretty silly way to validate sin to me.   We can try and keep validating sin as much as we wish to, but that doesn't make it correct.  The devil is not concerned with the fact that we confess that we love Jesus.  As long as we love Jesus...and idolize something else, its all good as for as he is concerned.  Imagine if everyone said, "well, I could do worse."  Think of what the world would be like.  Picture a court scene.  A jury, judge, prosecution, ect.  The accused approaches the stand.  The prosecution says, "So Joe, you know you murdered seven people, is this correct?"  Joe replies, "Well yes sir, that is true, but I could have done worse.  I could have killed fifteen people!"  The jury nods, and the judge smiles.  The prosecution replies, "Oh your so right Joe! You could have done so much worse!  You are free to go!"  Applause?  I think not.  The question shouldn't be "how far can I go without it being called a sin?"  The question should be, how much can I love Jesus today?  how can I show Jesus's love to those I meet today?  how can I know Jesus more today?

Think about it.

The third thing that struck me was - "Well I'm good in comparison to most people."
First things first, only God is good.  Second, the Bible says this is a big no-no.  Check out this verse.

"Don't compare yourselves with others" - Galatians 6:4


What good does it do to compare ourselves with others in a logical sense anyways?  Think of the end of your life and what that looks like.  Picture this.  (this may not be completely accurate, just go with me here)
You arrive at heavens gates, just on the outskirts of it.  Jesus is there.  He is motioning to you.  Once you approach Him, he says, step into exam room number three.  What!  You didn't think there was going to be an exam to get in.  You walk into the room.  Inside there are bleachers lining the right and left wall, a small wooden chair in the center, and a plasma screen tv up on the wall.  A man walks in and tells you to sit on the chair.  The bleachers are full of people, some familiar, some not as much.  You sit down.  The man, dressed like a referee puts in a video tape - and the plasma lights up.  After a few moments you recognize the main character on the screen - YOU.  For the next few hours you watch the "highlights" of your life run by on film.  This is a terribly bittersweet moment for you.  You feel paralyzed when its all over.  The man dressed as a referee begins passing out "ballots" to everyone in the room.  You catch a glimpse of one of the ballots - there are only two boxes to be checked - Heaven or Hell.

Of course, this is incredibly inaccurate, because only Jesus gets the vote at the end of your life - and isn't that great news!  You do not have to try and impress all of the other people in the bleachers, because their vote will not matter at the end anyways.  So it is not worth it to compare ourselves to others.  Compare yourself to one person, and one person only - our savior, Jesus Christ.  Do not let silly pride get in the way of having a real, abundant relationship with Jesus.

So stop making excuses for beginning a relationship with Him.
Stop making contradictions between your talk and your walk.
And stop making exceptions for sin.