Walking just left of Him.

I was reading a post on Substack today by a progressive Christian. Some of the points she hits on are accurate. She’s smart, sassy, full of piss and vinegar.

And she reminds me of who I was as an atheist.

I’m not a legalistic person. But I certainly have a hard time putting the f-word and “Jesus” in the same sentence on this side of salvation.

I don’t know. I think of the lenses we view Scripture through, and although I wholeheartedly embrace a softer, kinder approach that chafes against the fire and brimstone thinking of a lot of churches, I’m also no fan of getting rid of the s-word: “sin.”

And you know who wasn’t either? Jesus.

I think we tend to forget what we want to forget. We like to play on the “how we feel” a little more than the truth.

The truth doesn’t care how we feel. It just is.

And I’m grateful there’s an entire book of that truth. I wonder sometimes how so many of us can read it and come to so many different conclusions. But what I have to remember is that not all of us are fully surrendered to Christ, and there are some days when I want to veer away from that sense of surrender myself.

What I have to remember is that this truth is not about us at all. It’s about Him.

So then what good is it to dirty our language and rewrite a Christ that high fives our cute and playful antics?

Aren’t we sick of ourselves yet?

Yes, He loves us. And no, there’s no condemnation in Christ. But there’s a fine line between being truly with Jesus and walking just left of Him, lest we lose the large crowd whose following our word and not His.