When my grandmother passed away last year, my family tried to have her funeral at a specific church because it was where my grandfather had his services. The church told the family "no" because she was not a member. Not only did this church lose an opportunity to share Jesus with a very non-churched portion of our family, but I heard repeatedly from family members that these are the reasons they choose not to go to church. Why be like "them"?
My husband and I also had an AWFUL experience at a church a few years back. We were severely wronged to the point where we could begin to understand why people believe the church is full of hypocrites. It is.
We are all sinners saved by grace.
We mess up.
We do things wrong.
We fall into temptation.
We put our foot in our mouths.
We do dumb things.
We sin.
It's just as a Christian, we kind of expect a non-Christian to behave "ungodly" since we do not hold them to a Christian standard. Whereas the impact is so much greater when these hurts come from someone who claims Christianity because we just don't expect it from them. We automatically label them as hypocrites, instead of recognizing that they are sinners, just like us!
And when it is a Christian leader, we find ourselves devastated. We ask: If THEY can fall into THAT, is there any hope for me? We've held them on a pedestal for so long, they take a very hard fall in our eyes. We see our own sinful nature and humanity through their choice to sin and know that we are just as susceptible. And sometimes that is very scary.
We are all somewhere on our journey of faith. Perhaps the person you sit next to in church this Sunday will be there for the very first time or perhaps they have been attending for years. There will be non-Christians, new Christians and more mature Christians, depending where they are in their walk with God. Yet, it is so easy to walk into a church and simply think that everyone attending the service that morning follows Jesus and should be held to a higher standard - and in most places, that's just not the case. If a church is doing it's job, the church will be filled with hurting, broken, sometimes angry people searching for hope.
I largely believe that people use "The church is full of hypocrites and that is why I don't go to church" as an excuse. I can't help but wonder if their deeper reason for choosing to stay away from church is more that they identify with people within the church (feel they too would be hypocritical) and/or don't want to (or feel they need to) change.
The cool thing about Christianity is that unlike many other religions, you just come to God as you are. You don't need to earn His love or earn your spot in Heaven - it is given to you as a gift, if you choose to accept it. You don't need to change for God to love you! As you invite Jesus Christ into your heart and your life, He will do the changing.
Forget what you have seen in churches, forget what you have seen in "Christians"... your life is about your relationship with God - not theirs. Don't allow someone else's mistakes or sins keep you from the loving, incredible, compassionate, understanding and caring God that desires to love you. In a society that begs work-performance based promotions and measuring up to all aspects of society, simply believing in Jesus Christ for eternal life sounds way too easy! But, that is all God wants from you - to come as you are and to believe.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life". John 3:16
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