Bumper Sticker Theology
I’m usually not a huge fan of bumper stickers, but one caught my eye recently that I really liked. It read “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven”. What a great statement to sum up what we as Christians believe. So often the world labels Christians as perfect. The world expects Christians to be perfect in every situation. If they see you make a mistake they’ll immediately label you a hypocrite. Even some Christians expect other Christians to be perfect. They’ll judge people by the way they look or by things they may have done in the past and won’t welcome them into their churches. The fact of the matter is, nobody is perfect. We were all born with a sin nature and it is up to us whether or not we choose to live to please out sin nature or to please God. Jesus lived his entire life free from sin. He was holy and blameless. While living this type of life if something we should strive for, it is nearly impossible. But, that’s why God sent his son, who was perfect and sinless, to die in our place. The penalty for sin is death. Jesus endured the suffering and died so that we could recieve salvation through him. No matter how bad we mess up God will always forgive us. All we have to do is ask. “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:1-2
