Christians: Holier than holy?

No.

But also yes, Christians are stereotypically seen as holier than holy. Ohh, and there is that well known fact that you can't be a Christian unless you live a perfect life and obey the bible to the t.

I mean, it even says to life like that in the bible:

"Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of live as Jesus lived." 

1 John 2:6 (The Message)

I tried that route, and I failed. Because I can't be perfect, not even close to it, and I imagine that no one else can either. But then I discovered what God's grace truely meant. Grace means that God has already forgiven me for what I have done and for what I will do. In fact, as long as I believe that Jesus died for my sins and rose again, so that I can join him in eternal life. I can't do anything so bad that God won't forgive.

Brilliantly, so Christians can live their lives exactly how they want, but we don't. We do try to follow what's written in the bible. Something we can't actually do, and doesn't matter because God will forgive when we slip up anyway. So why do we?

For me, and probably many others it's because of Jesus. I don't follow him because he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lord, I follow him because he loved me so much he died on a cross so I could live with him forever. So why wouldn't I want to walk life with him? I can't ask for a better friend. So I follow Jesus down the path he lived his life, because if I'm with my closest friend, why wouldn't I want to do what he wants? So me and Jesus we walk the narrow path together, sometimes I wander off track, sometimes a sit down and scream that's it's not fair. But whatever I do I know that when the going gets tough, he's going to be there to hold my hand, to carry me, to wipe my tears away when I mess up yet again. Because, I get to call Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords my friend and my brother and together we walk the path Jesus walked 2000 years ago. 

 Any comments welcome :)

A week as a veggie....

First off, it's day seven and I've failed to be a veggie (twice) although both times the meal was cooked for me so it seemed rude to refuse.

But overall it's not been too difficult, there have been moments when I've wanted to cook one thing but instead had to cook something else, but overall substituting meat for other forms of protein has been relatively simple.

So, why did I?

As most people who have lived with me know, I don't eat that much meat - so why did I go veggie for a week. Partly, because I like a challenge but more importantly I read an article which made me realise the negatives to eating meat. To summerise it, the amount of meat we eat in the western world isn't sustainable. It's adding to climate change and whilst people are staving we're feeding animals only to slaughter them a few years down the line. Which, through a scientists eyes is a definite net loss of energy.

So, why does this bother me?

As a christian I believe that we (as human beings) have a responsibility to look after the earth, God calls us to be stewards of his creating.

"let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Genesis  1:26 

Therefore, if my actions are leading to climate change, how I can I claim that I am looking after God's creation? So, I need to change my lifestyle to properly care for God's creation.

It's now the 28th November, over a month since I went veggie, so what have I changed?

First things, I've cut down the amount of meat I eat, whilst that is partly due to the hectic lifestyle I have been living recently, it also has something to do with thinking about this. I managed to make a 2 meal amount of beef last 4 meals, just by cutting the meat really thinly. Whilst this is only a small action, if we all did it, we could easily reduce the amount of meat we eat. But, I will admit, I've not done half as well as I'd have liked to, so I'll re-consider my meals and try again!