Living a Life of Grace

I've been toying with this idea for a while. The concept is simple but the execution is so much more difficult. How do I daily make an impact on the people around me? Especially when many concepts of Christianity are deeply hated in society. I can spend weeks trying to break down someone's wall to get to know them on a more personal level. When I finally do, and I mention Jesus, I am immediately associated with Christians who are harsh, unfair critics of the world around them. Instantly weeks of hard work vanish before my eyes. How is it that the reputation of Christians is more bad than good? How is it that the most loved, most forgiven people in the world forget how to love and forgive? Since when were rules more important than grace? Isn't that why Jesus came to this world - to give us freedom from trying to grasp the unattainable and instead focus on sharing the grace we've been given? When did this stop becoming a top priority?

Personally, I'm fed up with the Christian stereotype. I'm fed up with watching Christians beat non-believers with the Bible and then become surprised when they have a hard time bringing people to church. I've only had people try to introduce me to Christ a handful of times, and its always with tracts that tell me I'm a sinner and destined to go to Hell. One even told me that I am disgusting in God's sight. But the tracts always end with a pleasant invitation to church. What?!?! I distinctly remember the church that I grew up in encouraging us to invite our neighbors to church, even if we had never spoken to them before. It'd be a "pleasant surprise." Inviting someone to church should never be the first step in a relationship or in bringing someone to Christ. That's creepy! How easy is it for us to say no to those kids that go door to door trying to sell overpriced double-sided wrapping paper? But if our niece or nephew, friend, or loved one comes along, we get out our checkbook. If we are actively pursuing bringing someone to Christ, we spend hours, weeks, maybe months or years building that relationship. We invest our time. We slip little things in occasionally like, "Wow , that sounds really though, I'll definitely be praying for you!" before we finally sit down and have the "talk." Then we can say something like, "Why don't you come to church with me this Sunday, so you can see more of what I'm talking about."

Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't know much about apologetics. What I do know is that it takes double or even triple the amount of time to get through to someone when they've already been exposed to Bible bashers. After someone has grasped the concept of God's love they can begin to understand why He put the rules in place that He chose. Once they understand the rules, they understand that they are out of love, not out of a need to control. Rules - love = control, and I know God doesn't have control issues. 

My questions to you are these:

1. Are you actively pursuing expanding the kingdom of God?

2. Whether you answered yes or no, what is your biggest barrier?

Remember that if Christianity was all about rules, we'd all be Jewish. We need to be daily seeking to expand the kingdom and bring glory to God. Can we bring glory to God by sinning? No. But we can't expand the kingdom by focusing on the rules either. Our lives need to be centered on grace. Daily admitting our sins and accepting grace, thanking God for His grace, and offering that same grace to others.

P.S. If you're a Bible basher, don't worry, God's got grace for you. too. And there's nothing you can do that God can't undo.