Dealing with Unpleasant Christians

(Bits of wisdom about unpleasant church people. To be read before you go to church—especially on Communion Sunday)

• ‘The sins of others are always worse than our own—until we allow God to be honest with us…’ —Unknown

• ‘God adds to the church and He subtracts from the church—but He never brings division.’ —Sandy Adams

• ‘You can’t forgive someone who hasn’t hurt you; You can’t have grace on someone who’s earned it; You can’t have mercy on someone who’s not guilty.’ —Chuck Smith

• ‘Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea—until they have something to forgive.’ —CS Lewis

• ‘If we refuse to forgive, we have stepped into dangerous waters. First, refusing to forgive is to put ourselves in the place of God, as though vengeance were our prerogative, not His. Second, unforgiveness says God’s wrath is insufficient. For the unbeliever, we are saying that an eternity in hell is not enough; they need our slap in the face or cold shoulder to “even the scales” of justice. For the believer, we are saying that Christ’s humiliation and death are not enough. In other words, we shake our fists at God and say, ‘Your standards may have been satisfied, but my standard is higher!’ Finally, refusing to forgive is the highest form of arrogance. Here we stand forgiven—and as we bask in the forgiveness of a perfectly Holy and Righteous God, we turn to our brother and say, ‘My sins are forgivable, but yours are not.’ In other words, we act as though the sins of others are too significant to forgive while at the same time believe that our own are not significant enough to matter.’ —Vodie Baucham
• ‘I’d rather attend a church with messed up people who love God than a church full of religious people who don’t like messed-up people.’ —Unknown

According to Jesus and His Communion, failure is not an option…

—j