Strengthen Strands

(A newsletter cover I wrote from the thoughts I finished the previous post with)

Last week someone visited Jeremy and myself at church. Although this person has enjoyed a close walk with God for some time, we were shocked to hear him say that he is no longer willing to consider himself a Christian, his reason being that though he believes in God, he finds himself consistently falling short of God’s standards. Instead of being a lukewarm Christian, he said he would rather not be one at all ‘until I can be authentic.’
To some extent, what he said is true. In Revelations God does tell lukewarm Christians he would rather they were hot or cold, and that because they are neither they will be spat out. But, just because a person struggles to do the right thing as a Christian doesn’t mean they should just give up. Every Christian has their moments of struggle, and even Paul found he would “do what I do not want to do.”
But if you sincerely wish to become a better Christian, the way to do that is not through removing God from your life. It is by relying on God more.
Think about it: God can see the beginning from the end; He already knows exactly when, how, and how often you will mess up, and yet He is also prepared to stand with you through those tough times. That famous verse from Ecclesiastes sums this up: “Those one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” If you are struggling to be authentic, don’t run from God, run to Him. Not just that, but seek help from other Christians, to ‘strengthen’ the number of your strands.